The Return of the Girl Who Waited
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: This is my first Doctor Who story that isn't connected to my War of the Guardians universe. This story is set just after the events at Trenzalore and the Doctor and Clara are surprised to find Amy Pond suddenly appearing in the middle of the TARDIS out of nowhere. They're not as surprised as she is though since the last thing that she remembers is dying of old age in a hospital!
1. The True Fate of Amy Pond

THE RETURN OF THE GIRL WHO WAITED

CHAPTER 1

THE TRUE FATE OF AMY POND

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**This is my attempt at doing a Doctor Who story that isn't connected to my War of the Guardians universe. It is set in an alternate universe all of its own where Amy returns just after the events that took place at Trenzalore.**

It was right after Trenzalore when the Doctor had finally gotten Clara back out of his timestream and back into the TARDIS that one of the most incredible things that had ever happened in the Doctor's long, long life occurred. For nine hundred years, he had lost one companion after another over and over again. Each time it had been like a fresh wound opening up in his hearts, and once he lost them he almost never saw them again.

Sometimes they did return of course, but even when they did things were never the same as they were before. He had seen Sarah Jane again once more decades after he had left her, but too much time had passed. Sarah Jane had gotten older, and she no longer wanted to travel with him anymore. Rose returned too of course, but he knew that he couldn't give her what he felt that she deserved which was to spend the rest of her life with him. Therefore, he had to give her the Metacrisis Doctor instead so that she at least could have the one adventure that he could never have with her. In all of that time, he had been so alone and had found no one who would or could keep the promise of staying with him forever even though many of them honestly wanted to.

Today was special though. Today was the day that he finally got one of them back, and this time would be different from the other ones. This time the returning companion was there to stay.

The time the universe would finally give him someone back.

The Doctor had just sat a still weakened Clara down in the Captain's Chair in the Console Room of the TARDIS when he heard a sudden gasp of surprise behind him. He turned around in alarm to see who could have possibly gotten into his TARDIS and locked eyes with the last person who he had ever expected to see again.

"Amy?" the Doctor asked in complete disbelief.

"Doctor, is this a dream? Is this real or am I having some kind of near death experience?" Amy asked in what the Doctor knew was a voice filled with barely controlled fear. She had just suddenly appeared in the TARDIS out of nowhere wearing only a hospital gown that barely covered her because it was much too small for her.

"What makes you think that it's a near death experience?" the Doctor asked her out of curiosity.

"Well, I am dying after all," Amy said.

"You are? You look pretty good to me. You certainly look better than I feel," Clara said in a weak voice.

"Who is she?" Amy asked as she started to wonder for the first time whether this could actually be real or not. She had never seen this girl in her life after all so why would she be imagining her in her final moments.

"Amy, this is Clara Oswald. Clara, this is Amy Pond," the Doctor said as he continued to look at Amy like she wasn't really there.

The only thing that convinced him that she wasn't a hallucination was that Clara could see her too. She could still be some kind of trick though or a shared dream of some kind like the time that the Dream Lord had taken his mind over.

"Oh, she's the one who was here before me. I thought she looked familiar," Clara said.

"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life," Amy asked in confusion.

"I've seen a picture of you before in the TARDIS databank. Also, I sort of met you once. Well. one of me did anyway. I called myself Oswin then, and I had been turned into a Dalek," Clara said.

"You were Oswin? Oswin died though. Doctor, explain!" Amy demanded.

"Amy, isn't it more important to you that you understand how you got here? Also I'd like for you to explain why you think that you're dying," the Doctor said as he tried to get her back to the point.

"That's because I am dying. This is all just some hallucination, isn't it? It's just a final trick that my mind's playing on me. I'm back here because I wanted to see you again one last time. That's why I'm imagining this. I'm afraid, Doctor. I'm afraid of dying, and I must have conjured you up one last time to help me make it through it," Amy said as she began to cry.

"Amelia, you're not dying. You're fine," the Doctor said as he finally touched her at last by wrapping his arms around her in comfort.

"No, it's all a dream. I'm really lying in a hospital bed dying. I'm an old woman now, Doctor. You wouldn't even recognize me. I'm not even ginger anymore," Amy insisted.

"You look like you have a pretty thick head of red hair to me," Clara said as she tried to get up.

"No, Clara. Don't try to move. You're still too weak from being lost in my timestream," the Doctor said.

"It sounds like you're still up to your old tricks, Doctor, even if it just in my imagination," Amy said as she laughed for a minute.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket and scanned Amy with it. His jaw opened in shock at the results that he got back. That couldn't be right, could it?

"Amy, you're not dying. You're perfectly healthy," the Doctor said.

"What are you keeping from me? I know when you're not telling me the whole truth. I've known you all of my life, Raggedy Man, and I know when you're holding things back," Amy accused him.

"You said that your last memories are of being old and lying in a hospital bed?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah. I still think that I'm there actually. I'm just seeing you because my Raggedy Man always comforts me when I'm afraid," Amy said with a small smile.

"You're not dying, Amelia. You're actually here on the TARDIS. I have no idea how, but you're here," the Doctor said as he started to break down into tears.

"You're admitting that you don't know something and calling me Amelia at the same time. You must really be worried," Amy noted with a small laugh as she tried to lighten the mood.

Then Amy and Clara were both shocked as the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and started to weep uncontrollably. He wasn't just weeping because he had somehow gotten her back though. He was weeping for all of those who he had lost and who would never return.

As Amy put her arms around him in return, she said, "Now, I'm not so sure that this is a dream anymore."

"It's not. Why do you keep insisting that it is?" Clara asked.

"I'm an old woman that's why, and this part of my life has been over with for a long time now. I haven't even thought about being Amy Pond for decades. I became Amelia Williams a long time ago and started writing. I was actually very good at it," Amy said proudly.

"Oh, my God! You're Amelia Williams?! You wrote Summer Falls! That's one of my favorite books. I read it to my kids," Clara said in excitement.

Despite the Doctor crying his eyes out right next to her, Amy couldn't help but smile at that as she said, "Well, it's always nice to meet a fan."

"You can't still be this young though. That book was published in the fifties, wasn't it? You're remarkably well preserved for your age," Clara said in surprise.

Amy smiled at her but made no further reply as she silently comforted the Doctor by gently stroking his back.

"Amy, I missed you so much. I never even got to say good bye to you properly," the Doctor said as he finally recovered the power of speech.

"I know. I'm so sorry about that. I couldn't let Rory be stuck in the past alone though. I had to go with him. I lived a long and happy life too just like I said that I did in my message to you. River gave it to you, didn't she?" Amy asked.

"Yes, she did," the Doctor said as he suddenly became quiet once again.

"What happened to River?" Amy asked as a feeling of dread went through her heart.

"She's dead, Amy. She died saving the lives of over four thousand people including my own. I tried to stop her, but she handcuffed me," the Doctor said sadly.

"She's not completely gone though. I saw her only recently. She was some kind of a ghost, but she seemed to be happy and content. She even helped me save the Doctor," Clara added.

"That sounds like her. She won't even let death stop her from saving him," Amy said as she tried not to cry herself now.

"I'm sorry, Amy," the Doctor said in a sympathetic voice.

"What's going on here, Doctor? I was near death just a few minutes ago, and I thought that I was about to finally go join Rory in whatever lies after this life. Then I suddenly find myself here. Is this my afterlife, Doctor? If it is, it isn't exactly what I expected. Don't get me wrong. I love you and traveling with you was one of the best times of my life, but I don't want to spend the rest of eternity here. I wanted to go on to be with Rory. Why am I here, and why am I young again?" Amy asked.

"This isn't the afterlife, Pond. This is the real TARDIS and the real me. I don't know what's happened, but I have my suspicions," the Doctor said.

Amy nodded and said no more. She knew that that was everything that she was going to get out of him for now. He would only tell her more when he was ready to.

She had finally accepted that this was all real somehow and had decided to make friends with Clara. If she was going to be traveling with her for however long that she was here now, she would have to at least be able to get along with her.

"So you're the one who he replaced me with, huh?" Amy said with a grin as she held out her hand to Clara.

Clara shook her hand and said, "Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay. I wanted him to find someone else. I told him to. He's absolute rubbish when he's alone for too long," Amy said.

"Don't I know it! He was living in the TARDIS all alone on top of a cloud for who knows how long after you left him. He was totally devastated by it and was filled with anger," Clara admitted.

"I'm sorry. I knew that it would hurt you, Doctor. I'm glad that you seem to have recovered though. I'm sure you helped a lot in that, Clara," Amy said.

"I did my best to," Clara said.

"How do you remember that about the cloud? That wasn't you. It was one of your echoes," the Doctor said.

"Yes and I remember being her and meeting you in Victorian times. Weren't you paying attention? I just said earlier that I remembered being Oswin too," Clara said irritably.

"It's just amazing that you remember all of that. Your echoes weren't really you after all. I wouldn't have thought that you remembered any of it. In fact, I was hoping that you didn't," the Doctor said.

"You mean you hoped that I wouldn't remember living and dying over and over again thousands of times. I do though. Don't worry. I'm okay. I don't have any kind of emotional connection to those memories or anything. It's just like it happened to someone else, and I just watched it. I don't have any more of a connection than that," Clara said.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Dying isn't that great of an experience by the way. Living is definitely better," Clara said as she directed her last comments toward Amy.

The Doctor looked at Clara with worry as he wondered if she was more affected by her experience than she was letting on. He hoped that she was telling him the truth about it. He made a silent promise to himself to keep an eye on her and make sure that she was really okay.

He moved his attention from Clara to Amy for now because he was more worried about her at that moment. "Amy, could you come to the medical bay with me? I'd like to look you over with the instruments there," the Doctor asked.

"Why? I thought that you said before that I'm healthy. You said that I was alright," Amy said suspiciously.

"Yes and the sonic also showed that you're over eighty years old, Pond. How do you look like you did when you were in your twenties when you're over eighty?" the Doctor asked.

"You already know why, don't you? You're just trying to get me to think about it and figure it out for myself first without you having to tell me, aren't you?" Amy asked perceptively.

"Don't you feel it, Amelia? You're not the same as you were before. Don't you feel any differently at all?" the Doctor asked.

"No, I don't. I feel just like I always did when I was this age. What am I supposed to be looking for? What is it that I'm supposed to be feeling?" Amy asked in puzzlement.

"You're too new. You've only just changed so you don't realize it yet. Your senses probably haven't even started to expand just yet," the Doctor said more to himself than to Amy.

"Okay, now you're scaring me. What's going on, Doctor? Tell me what I've changed into, and please tell me that I'm not a fish vampire or something even worse," Amy said in a nervous voice.

The Doctor smiled as he said, "No, you're not a fish vampire, Amy. You're not human anymore though either."

"What am I then?" Amy asked afraid.

"I often wondered just why you seemed to be unaffected by having given birth to River. I mean having a Time Lord child inside of you should have changed you in some way. Having the blood of a Time Lord going through your body during the pregnancy should have transformed you at least somewhat, but you never showed any signs of it at least not outwardly anyway. I see now though that it was a delayed reaction. The majority of the changes must have waited to occur after your original body died. That does explain, however, why you could no longer have children after River was born. You were no longer compatible with a human even at that point so you couldn't have a child with Rory anymore. It was biologically impossible," the Doctor speculated.

"What? What are you saying, Doctor? What did I turn into?" Amy asked in growing concern.

"Feel where your heart should be, Amelia," the Doctor said.

Amy did so and could feel it beating normally so she said, "It's fine. It's a little fast, but otherwise it's fine."

"Now feel the other side of your chest," the Doctor said.

"No. You don't mean?" Amy asked in shock as she finally understood what he was getting at.

"Just do it," the Doctor said.

Amy's eyes and mouth both flew open wide as she felt another heart beating on the other side of her chest as well. It was true!

"You're a Time Lord, Amelia. That's why you're here. The TARDIS picked up your transformation into a Time Lord as soon as your original body died and brought you here automatically. She was trying to bring the last two Time Lords in existence together," the Doctor said.

"I didn't change though. Melody changed her appearance when she regenerated," Amy said.

"This was more like a change of species than a true regeneration though. It was just your new Time Lord biology asserting itself and rewriting your body after your original body passed on. You can think of this as your first incarnation if you like. Next time when you die though it will be a true regeneration and you will change," the Doctor said.

"Oh, joy! I really look forward to that then. I still can't believe this," Amy said as she continued to feel both hearts beating with her hand.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that happening for several centuries probably barring accidents or foul play of course," the Doctor replied cheerfully.

"You really know how to make a girl feel good, don't you? Now that's almost as strange as finding out I'm a Time Lord. I'm actually thinking of and calling myself a girl again. I haven't been able to get away with that for a long time now," Amy said with a warm smile.

Clara smiled at her as she said, "You never have to worry about growing old again, Amy. Time Lords don't age unless they want to. I remember being one in one of my other lives. It definitely had its advantages."

The Doctor looked at Clara with worry again even as Amy said with a wry grin, "You're really going to have to explain all about that to me, Doctor. You'll have to catch me up on exactly what trouble you've gotten yourself into while I've been away."

The Doctor never responded though. He was too busy thinking about Clara.

_You're worried about her, aren't you?_ Amy said in his mind.

Both the Doctor and Amy looked at each other in shock about this as Amy said, "Did I just say that in your mind?"

"Yes, you did," the Doctor said as he started to twirl around in joy.

"Say what? What's going on?" Clara asked annoyed at being left out.

"I communicated with him telepathically!" Amy told her in an excited voice.

"Oh, wonderful!" Clara said as she could already foresee herself being left behind now that he had Amy back and she was a Time Lord to boot. What would he possibly need her for now?

"Let me get the medical bay set up and I'll give you a thorough examination, Amy," the Doctor said as he raced out of the Console Room.

"I can hardly wait!" Amy said with a sigh. She really didn't feel like being poked and prodded anymore. She had had enough of that in the hospital at the end of her old life.

Then she noticed the sad look on Clara's face and she said in a gentle voice, "He's not going to replace you with me. We'll all travel together now I'm sure. If I even decide to stay at all that is. I'm still not sure about that yet."

"How do you know that he won't get rid of me now that he has you?" Clara asked.

"I've seen the way that he looks at you. He cares a lot about you, Clara. He's not going to leave you," Amy reassured her.

"Maybe not now, but he will later. You'll go on being young forever, and I'll start to age. Then he'll get tired of me, won't he?" Clara said.

Amy remembered what River had said about not letting him see you age, and she couldn't dispute Clara's words. She knew that he wouldn't want to see her aging. She remembered how upset he had become when he saw her aging.

"It's true, isn't it?" Clara asked in an extremely sad voice.

"He doesn't like to see us getting older. That's true. I won't let him ditch you though, Clara. You have my word on that. You won't go until you want to go," Amy promised her.

"So you're staying then?" Clara asked.

"Yes, I think so. Where else could I go anyway? Amy Pond disappeared and Amelia Williams is dead. The TARDIS is the only home that I have left now. I would like to see my family though especially my son. He must have been going crazy when he couldn't find my body. I wonder what happened afterwards?" Amy said.

"Maybe the Doctor will take you to see him so you can find out," Clara suggested.

"Maybe. I'm sure he'll be much older though. He'll be the version of himself from the present day, and he'll probably faint on seeing me. Then again I did tell him all about the Doctor so he might not think a thing about it," Amy said with a chuckle.

"I thought the Doctor said that you couldn't have any more children. Did you adopt?" Clara asked.

"Yes, I did. His name is Anthony," Amy said as she recalled him with a fond smile.

"I did that in a way. A friend of mine died, and I've been helping to take care of her children. I'm their nanny, but I feel more like their mum," Clara admitted.

"You're always looking after everyone, aren't you? Who looks after you though?" Amy asked.

Clara shrugged as she said, "The Doctor does I guess."

"It seems more like the opposite from what little I can understand about you jumping into his timestream in order to save him. I think that you need someone to look after you too though while you're looking after everyone else. How about I make that my job? If you don't mind that is," Amy said.

"I'm pretty lucky then to have two Time Lords watching out for me," Clara said with a warm smile.

"Please don't call me that. I'm not a Time Lord even if I have turned into one biologically. I'm still just a regular human just like always," Amy said.

"Just a regular girl, eh?" Clara teased her.

"That's absolutely right," Amy said.

"Just a regular girl who travels through time and space with an eleven hundred year old Time Lord from outer space," Clara pointed out.

"Alright, alright! So I'm not and never have been ordinary, but I am still human. I'm human on the inside where it matters and in my heart. I'm not going to let anything change that," Amy said firmly.

Clara looked at for a long moment and studied the resolve on her face before finally saying, "I believe you. You're just stubborn enough to pull it off, aren't you?"

"You wouldn't believe how stubborn I am when I put my mind to something. I waited for twelve years for the Doctor to come back after he left me as a child, and I never really gave up the hope that he would," Amy said.

"Twelve years?!" Clara asked in shock.

"Let me tell you all about. You'll probably want to slap the Doctor when I get through. I know I did. I actually hit him with a cricket bat when he finally came back," Amy said with a huge smile on her face.

"You have to tell me about that!" Clara said eagerly as she waited to hear Amy's story.

She had already forgotten any jealousy that she had ever had towards Amy along with any fears of her replacing her. She was quickly becoming friends with her even as she told her about her life's story.

The Doctor meanwhile was eagerly setting up the equipment in the TARDIS' medical bay as he prepared to study Amy's changes thoroughly. He wanted to see if she was a full Time Lord or not and exactly what she could do. He was also a little worried about Amy's health and whether she went through the changes successfully or not. He was sure that she did, but he wanted to be absolutely certain of that.

For now though, he wasn't worried about any of this. He was just too excited to be worried about anything. He just kept spinning around and laughing in joy as he kept thinking the same thing to himself over and over again.

I'm not alone! I'm not alone!

**Next: The Doctor studies Amy and discovers the full extent of what she's become now. Meanwhile Amy wants to go back home and talk to her family to let them know that she's okay. Will that be harder for her than she thinks it will be? Clara, on the other hand, may not be as okay as she's pretending to be. **


	2. The Return of A Time Lady

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE RETURN OF A TIME LADY

The Doctor spent at least an hour studying Amy's body thoroughly on every machine that the TARDIS' medical bay had. He wanted to make absolutely certain what he was dealing with and that Amy was going to be alright. Amy meanwhile lay there impatiently and started to audibly sigh in annoyance.

"Yes, Pond?" the Doctor asked after Amy's fifteenth loud sigh in a row.

"Do you have all of the data that you need now, Doctor? I would really like to get up and get out of here now. I mean I'm still in that skimpy little hospital gown that I arrived here in, and I would really like to put something else on if you don't mind. I hope that you at least kept some of my old clothes that I left on the TARDIS so that I'll have something that will fit me," Amy complained.

"I kept all of your things, Amy. Your room is still there just the way that you left it," the Doctor said in a sad voice.

Amy was touched as she said, "You didn't have to do that. I wanted you to move on not make a shrine to me. Still I'm glad that you kept my clothes anyway. I can't go on adventures in a hospital gown. It was bad enough when I went on one in my nightie."

"You would certainly distract all of my enemies if you went out there in that that's for sure," the Doctor said.

Then his face turned red with embarrassment as he realized what he had just said, and Amy laughed at him. "I really hope that you haven't been looking at my bum, Doctor. That would get very awkward. I mean I'm still your mother-in-law," Amy teased him.

The Doctor's face turned even redder as he said, "I just meant that they would all be too busy staring at you in that gown to notice me, and I'd defeat them before they even realized that I was there. I didn't mean anything else by it. You know that I don't feel that way about you. I mean you're Amy Pond."

"I know but I just like to watch you squirm!" Amy said with a wicked smile.

"You should go to your room now and get dressed," the Doctor said.

"Okay but don't look at me as I go out. Keep your head turned," Amy said teasing him again.

The Doctor's face turned so bright that she thought that it might explode as he said, "Pond, stop it!"

Amy laughed as she made her way down the hall to where she remembered her room being the last time that she had been here. That had been such a long time ago, but to her it was almost as if it were yesterday.

When she entered the room, that feeling persisted because it really was just like it was when she left it. It really could have been yesterday. She continually found herself looking at the door expecting to see Rory walk in at any moment as she searched through her clothes.

She had to try very hard to avoid looking at all of his things that were still sitting there right in front of her just as he had left them. It was all that she could do with so many reminders of him in this room to keep from crying. Each one that she saw was like a fresh punch in the gut to her.

Somehow she made it through though and managed to put on a complete outfit before she couldn't stand it anymore and had to run from the room. Rory had been gone for years, but the pain from his loss was still too fresh in her mind to bear looking at his old belongings. She was going to have to ask the Doctor for another room as much as she hated to do that. She definitely couldn't sleep in that one.

As Amy made her way back to the medical bay, the Doctor had already found Clara and had her on the same bed that Amy had been on before as he prepared to examine her too. "Why am I here, Doctor? I thought that Amy was the one who you wanted to run the tests on," Clara asked.

"She is but I have to use your body to compare hers to. I need a regular human body to look at so that I can know just exactly how much that she's changed from her old self," the Doctor explained.

"Okay, but you're not going to make me wear a skimpy hospital gown too, are you?" Clara joked.

The Doctor turned bright red as he stammered, "N-n-no, of course not!"

_Someone's got a crush!_ Amy's voice said in a sing song tone in his mind.

_Shut up!_ The Doctor replied back in an embarrassed tone.

Amy's only reply was laughter. She enjoyed being with the Doctor again so much. She had really missed pushing all of his buttons.

"You're talking with her again in your thoughts, aren't you?" Clara said.

"Yes, and she's being very annoying," the Doctor said in irritation.

Clara smiled at him as she said, "That may be, but I know that you love her. I can tell."

"I love her like family though. We're just friends," the Doctor quickly added.

"I know. It's really none of my business anyway," Clara said.

"Yes, so why are you trying so hard to make sure that she knows that you're unattached?" Amy teased him as she entered the room.

"No particular reason," the Doctor said as his face turned red again.

_You like her. Admit it!_ Amy said telepathically.

_I do not! Stop it, Pond! _ The Doctor shouted in her mind.

"Ow! Would you please stop shouting in my head?" Amy complained out loud.

"I will if you stay out of mine," the Doctor protested.

"He is such a big baby sometimes," Amy said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Only sometimes?" Clara replied with a giggle.

"This happens every time that two of you get together. You automatically band together and turn against me," the Doctor said with a long drawn out sigh.

"I can't imagine why. So what's the verdict? How much of a Time Lord am I?" Amy asked in a somewhat nervous voice.

"I'm not finished studying Clara yet so I can't say for sure," the Doctor replied.

"You two can flirt with one another in your own time, Doctor. I need to know what I am now," Amy said impatiently.

"What? What are you talking about, Amy? We weren't flirting. We're just friends," Clara said defensively.

"Sorry, Clara, I don't know what I'm saying. I'm just upset. I just want to know how much I've changed," Amy said as she tried to cover up her slip of the tongue.

"It doesn't really matter even if you are a complete Time Lord, Amy. You'll still be the same person that you always were. It's not going to change you," the Doctor reassured her.

_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blurt that out like that. It's your place to tell her not mine. I just want you to be happy, and I know that River would too. I like Clara and I think that the two of you would be good together._ Amy said in his mind.

_No, Amy. I can't. She's only human. I can't have any kind of a relationship with her. It wouldn't be fair to her._ The Doctor replied.

_Why don't you let her decide that? Don't be too sure about her only being human either. She's been lost in your timestream and even had part of her turned into a Time Lord. Who knows what she is anymore?_ Amy responded.

The Doctor said nothing either out loud or mentally in reply. He had been thinking the same thing himself and had been worried about Clara ever since he had found her. He just hoped that he hadn't ruined her life. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had.

Clara knew that they had been conversing mentally again and began to wonder what they kept going on about. It was beginning to make her feel self-conscious, and she wondered if Amy's remark was more accurate than she thought. She realized now that the Doctor had never denied that he was flirting like she had.

"Amy, why don't you go home and see your family? I'm sure that I'll have all of your test results ready by the time that you get through with that," the Doctor said.

"Okay. I wanted to do that anyway. I just hope that they don't get too upset when I just suddenly show up on their doorstep after being gone for so long. I'm sure that I'll have a lot of explaining to do, and that's not something that I'm looking forward to," Amy said.

"I told them all what happened, Amy. I told them everything too. Including the parts about you and me traveling together and what the angels did to you and Rory," the Doctor admitted.

Amy gave him a sympathetic look as she said, "How did they react?" She knew that doing that couldn't have been easy for him.

"They didn't take it too well especially Brian. He blamed himself for telling both of you to go back to traveling with me. I'd really rather not have to face them again if it's all the same to you," the Doctor said.

"I understand. I'll face them by myself. Are you going to take me right now?" Amy asked.

"Why don't you see if you can do it by yourself?" the Doctor asked with a playful grin on his face.

"What? You mean that you actually want me to fly her by myself? You never want me to touch the console," Amy said in surprise.

"Maybe he's changed since you traveled with him. He lets me fly her sometimes. He's been teaching me how," Clara said.

Amy was impressed. He must really like her to be doing that. He never had liked anyone else touching the TARDIS' controls before not even River.

"Go ahead, Amy. Try it. You're a Time Lord now so you might as well get used to it," the Doctor encouraged her.

"Okay but if I wind up flying us into the heart of a sun or something it's all your fault," Amy said.

As she walked to the Console Room, Amy tried to remember everything that she had ever learned about flying the TARDIS from the Doctor and River through the years. She just hoped that she had learned enough and still remembered it all after decades of being away.

Amy walked hesitantly up to the console and said to herself, "I really hope that I don't screw this up."

Suddenly though to her surprise she found out that she could remember everything that either the Doctor or River had ever shown her in crystal clear detail. She had perfect recall of each and every moment.

Amy smiled as she said, "Alright then, let's see how I do on my first flight."

She began to manipulate the controls and set coordinates as she decided to visit her family a few months after she and Rory had disappeared. She wanted to give them some time to mourn Rory and try to recover from his loss before she showed up alive and well without him.

Brian Williams rushed to the window as he heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS materialize outside. He had been hoping despite what Anthony had told him about what had happened to them that somehow Amy and Rory would still come back to him alive and well, and it would all be some kind of misunderstanding. He waited eagerly as he watched the door to the TARDIS open, and he began to laugh with joy as he saw Amy come out of it.

His face fell though when he never saw Rory come out with her.

Brian was out the door in an instant as Amy said, "Brian, I'm sorry."

"He's not coming back, is he?" Brian asked as he was suddenly filled with despair.

"I'm sorry, Brian. I wish that he were here instead of me," Amy said.

"No, don't say that! I'm glad that at least you're okay. Rory would be too. He would have wanted you to survive," Brian told her.

"I'm the one who has to live without him though and it hurts. It hurts so much," Amy admitted.

"I don't understand any of this. Your son said that you both died of old age. Tell me what happened, and how you look just like you did before again," Brian said.

Amy carefully explained the whole thing to him except for how she had gotten onto the TARDIS. She still wasn't sure about that yet. She wasn't sure that she believed that the TARDIS had just picked her up and brought her there. That was far too easy of an explanation for her to accept it as the truth.

"So you're just like him now?" Brian asked in amazement after she had finished her story.

"I don't feel like him. I still feel like me. Would you think that I was still human if I hadn't told you?" Amy asked.

"Yes, I would because as far as I can tell you still are. I think that you'll still be yourself no matter what you've turned into, Amy. Don't worry about that, and don't worry about surviving when Rory didn't either. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't like you chose to become a Time Lord. You have absolutely nothing whatsoever to feel guilty about at all," Brian told her.

"Neither do you. We wanted to go traveling with the Doctor again. That wasn't your fault, Brian," Amy said.

"I still wonder if you would have done it if I hadn't suggested it," Brian said.

"Yes, we would have. The Doctor wasn't going to give me up, and he was just going to keep coming back until we started traveling with him again. It would have happened sooner or later anyway. Rory never blamed you for what happened and neither do I. I'll try to get over my guilt if you work on getting over yours," Amy said with a warm smile.

"It's a deal," Brian said as he hugged her.

That was when Amy's parents came driving up, and she turned to Brian and said, "You called them, didn't you?"

"Yes, I knew that they would want to know. It'll be alright, Amy. They're not mad at you for going away. They're mad at the Doctor for taking you. Just go talk to them. They were devastated by what happened," Brian said.

Amy nodded and went walking up to them. She explained the whole story just as she explained it to Brian and finally added, "Please don't blame the Doctor. He never wanted any of that to happen. He was just as devastated as you were."

Her parents had both been quiet this entire time, and when she had finished speaking they still said nothing. She wondered if Brian had been wrong, and they were furious with her for what she had put them through. Finally she got her answer though when they both hugged her tightly and began to cry tears of joy.

Amy smiled afterwards and felt peace of mind as she told everyone that she would be back soon. She planned on keeping that promise too. Unlike some Time Lords, she was certain that she could come back before twelve years had passed.

Finally she visited Anthony. He opened the door to see her standing there, and a huge smile broke out all over his face instantly. Amy had to admit that she wasn't expecting that at all. She thought that he would be more shocked than anything else.

Anthony embraced her as he said, "You're okay. I'm so glad that you're okay, Mum."

"Why aren't you shocked by my appearance? You act like you're not surprised at all to see me either. Come on, Anthony. Tell me what's going on. What happened after I died?" Amy asked.

"Come inside, Mum, and I'll tell you everything. I wish that the rest of the family were here, but I'm all alone right now. I'd love for you to meet them. You remember most of them of course, but there are others who weren't even born yet when you 'died'," Anthony said.

Amy looked at Anthony and couldn't get over how different that he was. He looked so much older now. He wasn't unrecognizable of course, but it still disturbed her to see him like this. It really hit home for her to see just how much of his life that she had missed.

Anthony saw how upset that she was immediately as he said, "It's not your fault, Mum. I'll catch you up on everything that you missed. It really wasn't that much."

"Even a single day was too much," Amy said in tears.

"It's okay, Mum," Anthony said.

"No, it's not okay. It'll never really be okay, but I'll try to move past it. It won't be easy though. Now tell me what happened on the day that I died," Amy said as she sat down in Anthony's living room and tried to compose herself.

"I was with you when you breathed your last. I was holding your hand as you lay there. I don't know if you even knew that I was there or not," Anthony said as he tried to stop himself from becoming emotional too now.

"I'm okay, Anthony. Don't get upset. I'm alright now. I did know actually. I felt you there, and it helped comfort me," Amy said.

"I'm so glad. I never did know if you knew or not," Anthony said with a look of relief on his face.

"Of course I did. I know that you love me. I know what you did for me, and the long hours that you spent sitting with me. I know that it looked like I was totally out of it, but I knew that you were there. Tell me the rest of the story now. What happened next?" Amy asked as she held his hand to show him how she appreciated what he had done for her.

"You won't believe this. I know I didn't," Anthony said.

"Try me. I've soon a lot of impossible things in my time," Amy said with a sly smile breaking out on her face.

"When you died, you began to glow all over with a golden light, and then energy poured from your hands and head. I quickly moved to safety because I knew right away that it was regeneration just as you had described it to me. When the glow faded though, you were still you only much younger. You looked exactly like you did when I was a little boy again. I thought that maybe I was seeing things especially when you didn't wake up. That was when things really became crazy. A woman with blonde hair came running into the room out of nowhere and said to me that you were alright and that she was going to reunite you with the Doctor. Then she told me that it would be a long time but that someday I would see you again. Suddenly both she and you disappeared right in front of me. I thought that I was going mad, and even my family weren't sure whether to believe me or not. I always knew that you would come back someday though. I never doubted that," Anthony said.

"A woman with blonde hair? Do you think that it could have been River? How did you bury me with no body anyway? The Doctor said that he saw my tombstone," Amy asked.

"I held a closet casket ceremonial funeral and hid it from everyone that there was no body except for close family members. The hospital thought that an error must have occurred, and that they had lost your body because I never told them what happened so I was covered on that front too. As for the woman, it wasn't River. Not based on your descriptions of her. This woman was much too young. She was still in her early 20s and was very kind. She took the time to reassure me that you were alright and made sure that I was calmed down before she left. So what do you remember about what happened?" Anthony asked.

After Amy told him everything, Anthony said, "I wish that I knew who she was or how she got you into the TARDIS."

"Why don't you ask me yourself?" a young woman's voice said from behind them.

They both turned their heads in surprise to see a young blonde woman with a cheerful smile on her face. "Hello, my name's Jenny. I'm the Doctor's daughter," she said.

"That's her. She looks like she hasn't aged a day," Anthony said in surprise.

"Wait a minute. You're the Doctor's daughter? Why has he never once mentioned you then? I've known him for years, and he never said anything. Not once," Amy said.

"That's probably because he thinks that I'm dead. I was shot right in front of him, but I survived it somehow. I still don't know how. I've been looking for him ever since. I never found him though not even after searching the entire galaxy for him or at least some sign of him for years. Not until now. I probably never would have found him if I hadn't come across a woman who told me exactly where to find both you and him," Jenny said.

"What did she look like?" Amy asked.

Jenny described someone who looked just like River, and Amy and Anthony both smiled at each other. Amy knew that River had to be mixed up in this somehow.

"That was my daughter. So she told you where to find me and the Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Yes, she got me to promise to take you back to the Doctor in exchange for his location. Somehow she knew exactly where he was going to be. A place called Trenzalore. I went to the hospital where I met who I assume is your son here and collected you. After that, I transmatted both of us onto my ship which was waiting nearby. I had actually managed to convert my ship into a primitive time machine after I spent years studying every bit of time travel theory that I could find. I knew that I would have to be able to travel in time as well as space in order to find the Doctor after all. So I used that time travel ability to take us to the exact time that the Doctor was supposed to visit Trenzalore according to River and slipped you inside the TARDIS while the Doctor was gone doing whatever it was that he was doing there. You were still unconscious so I just laid you out on the floor behind the console so that the Doctor wouldn't have any problems finding you," Jenny explained.

"He must have overlooked me lying there because he was so worried about Clara. How did you get into the TARDIS? Did River give you a key?" Amy asked.

"That was weird, and I still don't understand it. After she told me what the TARDIS looked like, she said that all I had to do to enter it was to snap my fingers. Do you know what? It actually worked!" Jenny said with a smile.

"Only the Doctor can do that though," Amy said in confusion.

"Well, maybe that's why it worked then. I am the Doctor in a way. I'm his clone," Jenny said.

"His clone is a young girl?" Amy asked in complete confusion now.

"I'll explain it to you later. Anyway after I left you in the TARDIS, I placed a tracking device inside of it and followed you here. Now here we are," Jenny said.

"Why didn't you just wait and talk to him then instead of following me?" Amy asked.

Jenny hesitated as she said, "I was a little afraid to. It's been so long that I'm just a little nervous about meeting him again."

"You did all of that just to find him again, and now you're chickening out at the last minute?" Amy asked.

"What if he doesn't want me to travel with him anymore? He might have changed his mind about it. I've heard that he's changed his appearance since then so he might have changed how he feels about me too," Jenny said.

"No, he didn't. I'm sure about that. I know him very well, Jenny. He'll love to have you travel with him. Come on. I'll take you to meet him. There's absolutely nothing for you to worry about," Amy said.

"Thank you," Jenny said.

"Thank you for what you did for me," Amy said.

The two of them embraced for a moment and then Amy said, "I'll be right back, Anthony."

Anthony nodded. He had waited this long to see her again. He could wait a little longer.

As Amy took Jenny to the TARDIS, she said, "Show me how you got in again. This should be good."

Jenny snapped her fingers, and the doors opened for her. Amy smiled at her impressed.

"Come on. He's in the medical bay," Amy said as she led Jenny inside.

As soon as the two of them entered the medical bay, the Doctor said without looking up, "There you are, Pond. I just finished studying your results."

"Doctor, I have someone that I want you to meet," Amy said.

Clara waved at Jenny who waved back even as Clara mouthed the words 'Who are you?' to her.

Jenny mouthed back 'His daughter.' Clara nodded and smiled warmly at her. She could see now that she wanted to surprise the Doctor.

She was looking forward to seeing the smile on his face when he finally looked up to see her. If he ever did that is. Knowing the Doctor as she did it would probably take a while before he noticed what was right in front of him.

"I've already met your family, Amy. This is more important right now. These tests say that physically you're eighty percent Time Lord now. You'll be able to regenerate and do all of the other cool things that Time Lords can do. Mentally however you still think and act like a human. Don't get me wrong. You'll have all of the enhanced senses, advanced memory, superior learning capacity, and faster processing speed of a Time Lord's brain, but you won't really think like one of us. You'll have a human's emotions and empathy along with all of the other things that help to make Pond Pond. That's the one thing that won't change. You'll still be Amy Pond where it counts the most. I'm sure that you're happy about that though," the Doctor said proudly.

"Yes. Yes, I am. That was one of the things that I've been worried about was losing touch with who I am," Amy said.

"You won't start wearing bow ties if that was what you were worried about. Not that there's anything wrong with that. As we all know, bow ties are cool," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, I have someone here who wants to meet you," Amy tried again as Jenny looked at the Doctor in nervous anticipation.

"Just a moment, Pond. Now I have some news to tell you, Clara," the Doctor said.

"What news? Am I okay? I don't have anything wrong with me, do I?" Clara asked in alarm.

"It depends on how you define wrong. I don't think that this is bad at all, but you might disagree," the Doctor said.

"Just tell me," Clara said as she became upset.

"You're changing Clara. You're becoming a Time Lord just like Amy. That's why you're able to remember all of those lives that you've lived. You should have already forgotten most of the details about them by now but you didn't. That made me suspicious that you were becoming more than human, and that's why I tested you too. I was right. You're slowly changing into a Time Lord just like Amy. You're already half Time Lord and still transforming. I think that it was caused from you becoming exposed to my timestream. It altered your biology in order to enable you to survive inside of it," the Doctor explained.

"So I'm going to become just like Amy or is my mind going to be affected too? Am I going to stop being me?" Clara asked in fear.

"I don't think so, Clara. I think that you're going to be just fine. I'm not even sure that you're going to be a hundred percent Time Lord. I think that you may be more like mostly Time Lord and some human just like Amy is. Don't worry, Clara. You're going to be okay," the Doctor said.

"I hope so," Clara said in a frightened voice.

"Brave heart, Clara," the Doctor said sympathetically.

"You'll be alright, Clara. I'll make sure of that. Doctor, for the millionth time, I have someone who I want you to meet," Amy said.

"Yes, Pond! Alright, I'll meet them. Who is it?" the Doctor asked in an annoyed voice as he finally looked up at Amy and Jenny.

His jaw opened in complete surprise as he saw Jenny. He couldn't believe that it was really her.

"Hello, Dad!" Jenny said with a huge smile on her face.

The Doctor immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He began to weep out of control as Jenny returned his hug with a peaceful and content look on her face. Then she began to cry too. She had finally found him again.

"I think it's a pretty safe bet that he wants you to come along with him, Jenny," Amy said with a grin.

Meanwhile outside and oblivious to this heartwarming reunion, a pair of cold, dead eyes observed the TARDIS from a hidden location several feet away. He smiled to himself as he said, "I knew that sooner or later that you'd come back here to take your Earth girl back home. You're as predictable as ever, Doctor."

Then he began to laugh. It was a laughter that would have chilled the blood of the Doctor if he could have heard it.

**Next: I'm sure many of you already know who the mysterious man at the end was, but you'll find out for sure next time along with a little bit more about what he's up to. Also we'll see Clara still worrying about what's happening to her while the Doctor studies Jenny as he attempts to find out just how she survived being shot. **


	3. A Gathering of Time Lords

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

A GATHERING OF TIME LORDS

While the Doctor spent his day getting to know Jenny all over again, Amy spent the rest of her day catching up with what had been going on with her son and the rest of her family in the years since she had died. She had missed so much. Her grandchildren had children of their own now. That had floored her more than anything else that had happened lately.

Time had continued to pass without her, and everything had changed. She vowed to herself to never let that happen again. She was going to keep in touch with her family from now on no matter what happened. She was never going to miss another important moment in their lives ever again.

She was a Time Lord now. She could make that happen.

Amy surprised herself as she thought of herself as a Time Lord for the first time without even realizing it. It was still very jarring. It was definitely something that she was going to have to get used to.

_It won't be so bad, Pond. Being a Time Lord is cool. You'll see. _The Doctor's voice suddenly said in her head.

That was something that she was going to have to get used to too. Having the Doctor able to break into her thoughts twenty four hours a day was not a good thing in her opinion. He had already broken into her mind several times and commented on what she had thought were her private thoughts.

It was driving her up the wall and causing her to think very nasty thoughts. Things that even River would probably blush at.

_I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was doing that. If I do it again, you have my permission to slap me._ The Doctor said as he broke in yet again.

_Have you ever heard of a little thing called privacy? It's a human concept where you mind your own business and allow everyone else to mind theirs! _Amy replied back to him.

"Is anything wrong, Mum?" Anthony asked.

She was still with him and trying to enjoy spending the day with him. The emphasis was on trying.

"It's the Doctor breaking into my thoughts again. That man is driving me crazy! If he doesn't stop, I'm going to make sure that the Time Lords become extinct because only the Time Ladies are going to be left alive when I'm through with him!" Amy said in anger.

Anthony laughed as he said, "That shows me how much you care about him. You only get that angry at people that you really love."

"Yes, I used to get angry at you a lot when you were a kid, didn't I? I'm sorry about that. You know I didn't really mean it," Amy said.

"That's okay. I was a pretty troublesome kid. I was always getting into trouble," Anthony said.

"You were nothing compared to Melody. You haven't seen trouble like she would cause. I once had to bail her out of jail three times in one day, and that was before noon," Amy said with a fond smile on her face.

"Only you would think that was a good memory," Anthony said with a chuckle.

_River was always a bad girl. That was probably a slow day for her I bet. _ The Doctor's voice suddenly said in Amy's mind.

"That's it! I'm going to kill him!" Amy shouted as she flew into a rage.

"He did it again?" Anthony asked.

"Yes! I can't have one moment to myself without him butting in with his little comments on every little thing that I think. He's got to die. I love him with all of my heart, but I'm going to have to kill him," Amy said with a determined look on her face.

Anthony started to laugh at her. He had missed that fiery temper of hers so much. She had never lost it even when she was an old woman.

_Amy, can I talk with you for a minute? Is that okay?_ Jenny's voice suddenly said in Amy's mind.

_You know I like you better than him already, Jen. You actually ask if it's okay to break into my thoughts before you do it. Are you sure that you're really the Doctor's clone?_ Amy joked.

_Yes, but I don't know what else I am. Dad's about to tell me, and I'm a little nervous. Would you come back and be with me when he tells me the results of his tests?_ Jenny asked.

_Of course I will. I'll be there in a minute, sweetie._ Amy said with a smile on her face.

"That was Jenny that time, wasn't it?" Anthony asked.

"Yes, it was. She's such a sweet girl. She acts just like a child though sometimes. I guess that's because she kind of is one. The Doctor said that she was created fully grown so she never had a childhood. In a way, she's going through that now," Amy said.

"She wanted you to come back to the TARDIS?" Anthony asked.

"Yes. I'll be back, Anthony. I promise I'll be back before you know it. You know that I actually keep my promises too unlike some people," Amy said.

That was true enough. Amy had never once broken a promise to him when he was growing up. She had once told him that she would never put him through what she had gone through when the Doctor didn't come back. She had never wanted anyone, especially her son, to ever be that disappointed in her.

"I know. Don't worry about it, Mum. Go enjoy yourself. I know that you've been dying to travel with the Doctor again for decades," Anthony said as he hugged her when she got up to leave.

Amy left the house and slowly walked back toward the TARDIS. The entire time she felt like someone else's eyes were watching her. She wondered if this was just a trick that her new Time Lord brain was playing on her or if she was actually being followed. She was definitely going to keep an eye out from now on in case someone had found out what she was now. She didn't want Anthony being put in any kind of danger because she was part alien now.

As soon as Amy entered the TARDIS, that feeling of being watched went away; and she quickly forgot about it as soon as Jenny gave her a warm welcome. "Hello, Amy. Did you enjoy your time with your son? How is he doing?" Jenny asked with heartfelt emotion in her voice.

"He's doing fine, and I did enjoy it. How are you doing? Why are you so worried for?" Amy asked as she immediately got to the point.

"Dad's going to tell me what I am in a few minutes. What if I'm not a Time Lord? What if my coming back to life was just some kind of fluke? Do you think he'll still want me if I'm not like him?" Jenny asked.

"Jenny, he cried like a baby when you came back. Why are you still worried about him accepting you?" Amy asked with a sigh.

"I just don't want to be alone again," Jenny admitted in a sad voice.

Amy tried not to smile as she saw just how similar Jenny was to her father. They both had a deep fear of being alone, and they both had led very lonely lives. Maybe Jenny was more like her Dad then she thought.

"I promise that you'll never be alone again if I can help it no matter what you are, Jenny. You don't ever have to worry about that again as long as I'm around, alright?" Amy reassured her.

"Thank you, Amy," Jenny said as she surprised Amy by hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek.

Amy realized for the first time that Jenny had become very attached to her already. She had to admit that she had become attached to her too.

"Okay, Jenny, it's time. I have your test results all ready. It's time to find out what you are," the Doctor said as he came into the Console Room.

He looked at the huge smile on Jenny's face and knew right away that Amy had put it there. Good old Pond! She had always cheered him up whenever he was worried or down about something, and now she was doing it for his daughter too. He could always rely on her.

He never knew just how much he had come to rely on her until she was gone. Now that she was back it was like he was a new man again. He had a certain lightness returned to his step that he hadn't felt since she had left. It was like a missing piece of his soul had been returned to him.

The three of them went to the medical bay and found Clara already there waiting for them. Amy could see right away that Clara was very upset, but the Doctor seemed as usual to be completely oblivious to it. Or at least he was pretending to be anyway.

It seemed that she was quickly becoming the mother of this little group whether she wanted to or not. First Jenny had an emotional crisis for her to solve, and now Clara seemed to have something bothering her too. She made a mental note to ask her about it later.

Amy put a comforting hand on Clara's shoulder. Clara gave her a small smile as the Doctor started talking to Jenny.

"I finally found out that you are one hundred percent Time Lady, Jenny," the Doctor said right from the start. This news caused Jenny to breathe an audible sigh of relief.

"However," the Doctor added, and Jenny could feel both of her hearts stop as she waited on his next words.

"You've been diluted somehow. You're like a weaker version of me. That's probably because you're a clone. It doesn't mean anything really except that your abilities are just noticeably weaker than a regular Time Lord's. That could change though as time goes by, and you practice with them some more," the Doctor said.

Jenny looked worried and even the Doctor noticed it so he said, "It's okay, Jenny. It doesn't mean anything. It certainly doesn't matter to me. You did regenerate by the way."

"I did?" Jenny asked in surprise.

"Why didn't her appearance change then?" Amy asked.

"She didn't change because her abilities are much weaker than mine. She was able to heal herself and come back to life, but it obviously took her much longer than it would me. Her regenerative abilities are simply too weak to change her appearance if they take that long to kick in so that stayed the same. Her form of regeneration is more like an advanced form of healing than a true regeneration. She's more like my friend Captain Jack Harkness. He can heal any wound and come back to life too, but he doesn't change his appearance either. Jack was altered by Rose Tyler to be immortal though so he's a special case," the Doctor explained.

"So I'm a Time Lady, but I'm weaker than an average one?" Jenny asked.

"Yes, that's right. Don't worry about it, Jenny. It doesn't mean anything. You'll probably become much stronger as you grow older and more experienced," the Doctor said in a gentle voice.

"So I can stay?" Jenny asked hopeful.

The Doctor looked at her oddly as he said, "Of course you can stay. You're my daughter."

"She thinks that you might not want her because she's not a regular Time Lord like you," Amy said.

"That's not true, Jenny. I love you no matter what you are. It never did matter to me. I just wanted to know so that I could know the full extent of your abilities. That's the only reason that I did the tests. It wasn't any kind of entrance exam," the Doctor said.

Jenny began to smile and looked relieved. The Doctor then hugged her to let her know that what he said was true. He never wanted her to feel like she wasn't wanted.

Amy smiled at the two of them. One down, one to go she thought to herself as she turned her attention to Clara now.

She gestured to Clara to follow her, and the two of them went outside and down the hall to Amy's room for some privacy. She had a feeling that whatever was bothering Clara was something that she didn't want the Doctor to hear. It was probably something that he should hear though.

As soon as they shut the door, Amy said, "Okay, what's bothering you?"

"Is it that obvious?" Clara asked embarrassed.

"It's obvious to everyone but the Doctor. Sometimes he needs to have certain things shoved right into his face before he notices them. Then there are times that you have to slap some sense into him too before he finally gets it. With the way that he's been acting lately by invading my mind, I really hope that this is one of those times," Amy said with a smile.

Clara, however, was not smiling. She was shaking with emotion as she said, "This is serious, Amy. I'm changing into a Time Lord. Unlike you, I may change all of the way both mentally and physically. I'm worried about what I'm going to become. Will I lose my humanity if I go all the way? Will I still be Clara or will I be like the Doctor where I'm so far beyond human that I don't even understand them half of the time. Worse yet, will I even be able to love anyone once the transformation is through? Will I still love my kids or my dad? Will I love the Doctor? Can the Doctor love the same way that we do?"

"Of course he can. He loved my daughter. He even married her. Of course she had to force him to," Amy said.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Why can't he ever tell anyone how he feels? I think that he cares about me, but he won't tell me. Why won't he tell me? Why can't he tell me if he loves me? Is it because he doesn't have the same definition of love that I do?" Clara asked.

"He's lost everyone and everything that ever mattered to him, Clara. He just keeps losing them even when he finds someone new to love. The universe just keeps taking things from him, and it never gives them back. After a while you just get tired of trying to love anyone I think because you don't want to have your heart broken again when the next person goes," Amy said.

"Are we still talking about the Doctor here?" Clara asked.

"Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that I'll never love anyone else again after Rory. I think that I can understand a little bit better now how the Doctor feels now that I'm older myself," Amy said.

"If that's the way that you feel, then you and he might both miss out on someone extraordinary and never even know it. I'm starting to wonder if that's what living as long as he has means. Maybe it means that you have to lose your heart in order to do it. If that's true, then I don't want it. I'd rather die as me," Clara said.

"Don't say that! I know that the Doctor can come off as cold and unapproachable sometimes, but that's because his life has made him that way. It's not because he's a Time Lord. It's because he's had a really, really sad life. You have to sacrifice a lot to be the protector of the universe it seems or at least he has," Amy said.

"Show me a hero, and I'll show you a tragedy," Clara said.

"What?" Amy asked.

"It's just something that I heard once. It seems to describe the Doctor better than anyone else that I've ever met," Clara said.

"It's not all tragedy though. There are good moments too. I certainly had my share when I traveled with him the first time, and I'm sure that you have some too. You have to accept the good with the bad when you run with the Doctor," Amy said.

Clara looked thoughtful for a moment and then she nodded as she said, "You're right. I'm sorry for bothering you with my problems, Amy. I just need to pull myself together and not worry about it. I'm just going to make my mind up that I'm Clara Oswald, and that's who I'm going to stay no matter what. The Doctor always tells me that I can accomplish the impossible so that's what I'm going to do. Who knows? Maybe I'll be the first soufflé making Time Lord."

"Time Lords do seem to have funny tastes in food. Or at least the Doctor does anyway," Amy said.

"I know. What is it with the fish fingers in the custard? Even my soufflés taste better than that!" Clara said as she started to laugh.

Clara then suddenly became silent for a moment before she finally said, "Should I tell him? How I feel I mean?"

"Yes, you should. I think that he may actually tell you his feelings this time since he knows that you're going to be a Time Lord like him. He'd better anyway or he'll have to answer to me," Amy said.

"I'll tell him then. Not yet though. I'll wait until I'm sure that the time is right," Clara said.

"Just don't wait too long, okay?" Amy said.

"Got it. Thanks, Amy. I'm so glad that you came onboard. Now I finally have someone to talk to. You kind of remind me of my mum. She could always make me feel better no matter how bad that I felt too," Clara said.

"Why does everyone want me to be their mum lately? I was just getting to enjoy being young, and suddenly everyone wants to make me feel old again," Amy complained.

"I'm sorry, Amy. I know that you're not my mum. It's just good to have another woman to go to sometimes for advice. Someone who's had more experience and who's wiser than me," Clara said.

"In other words, old," Amy said with a grin.

"Sorry," Clara said.

"It's okay. I'm happy to help," Amy said.

The two of them rejoined the Doctor and Jenny in the Console Room, and the Doctor looked at them suspiciously as they entered the room. "Why have you two been gone so long for?" the Doctor asked.

"Clara was just worried about becoming a Time Lord. She was talking to me about it," Amy said.

"Oh, Clara! It's going to be okay. Time Lords aren't monsters. Well, not all of us were anyway. Don't worry. You'll be alright," the Doctor said as he embraced Clara and tenderly kissed her forehead.

Yeah, he's not in love. Right! Amy thought to herself sarcastically.

Suddenly the TARDIS shook all over so hard that it almost made them all fall over onto the floor. Then it shook again just as hard if not worse.

"What is going on? We're not even in flight!" Amy cried out.

Then they heard a rhythmic pounding on the TARDIS door. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four.

The Doctor's eyes widened in fear as he recognized the pattern behind the pounding. He knew who was behind that door now.

He ran to the console and used the outside speaker to say, "What is it that you want? How are you even here anyway?"

The Master responded with a voice oozing with hatred and anger as he said, "You know what I want. It's the same thing that I always want. To kill you! Utterly and finally forever! As for how I'm here, the Time Lock rejected me, Doctor. It's probably because I was never a part of it the first time around. I'm still dying by the way. I've been holding it off as long as I can by having an occasional bite to eat every now and then from some of your human friends, but I think that I've almost reached the end of my rope. I need your remaining lives to stabilize me and make me into a proper Time Lord again. I'm not leaving here until I take them from you. I'll also kill you as painfully as possible too of course. That's just a given."

"I thought that we had achieved a peaceful resolution to the feud between us the last time that we met," the Doctor said.

"You thought wrong. You know that it can only ever end in one way, Doctor. With you dead and with me ruling over the universe while I build a memorial in your honor for everyone to come and laugh at. They can come and mock the memory of the man who wanted to make people better and lost everything as a result," the Master said in disgust.

"Alright, I've had enough of this guy already," Amy said in anger.

She quickly ran down the corridor and said out loud to the TARDIS as she went, "There's a back door, isn't there? That other Console Room that Rory and I came across that time when House was chasing us also led to the outside too, didn't it? I'm right, aren't I? If I am, lead me to it now so that I can surprise that psycho out there."

Just as those words left Amy's mouth, she ran straight into the Console Room of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. She ran through the room and straight out the doors next to it. She immediately found herself outside and behind the TARDIS.

She smiled to herself as she silently whispered to the TARDIS, "Thanks. I owe you one."

_Don't mention it, orange haired girl. _A voice that sounded just like the woman who had called herself Idris said in her mind.

Amy smiled. It seemed that you couldn't hear her unless you were a Time Lord. She had never talked to the TARDIS once in all of the time after Idris had died.

Amy quietly made her way behind the Master as he blasted the TARDIS with large bursts of energy from his hands. The TARDIS shook all over from his attack, and now Amy knew what he had been doing to it earlier.

Amy waited until the Master stopped firing the energy blasts, and then she went on the attack. She picked a huge broken tree branch up off of the ground and whacked him in the back of the head with it. The Master clutched his head as he reeled in pain from the force of the blow.

"It's not as good as a cricket bat, but it'll do in a pinch!" Amy said as she hit him in the face with the branch next before he could recover from her first blow.

"And she scores!" Amy shouted as the Master fell to the ground from the impact of the blow.

It seemed that she was much stronger as a Time Lord than she had ever been as a human. She quickly dropped the tree branch and fell on top of the Master as she started pummeling him with one blow after another.

The Doctor cautiously opened the door to see the incredible sight of Amy mercilessly beating the Master into submission. The Master looked at him with pleading eyes as he shouted, "Call her off! Call her off!"

"I can't control her. She's her own person. She never did listen to me," the Doctor said with a huge grin on his face.

"How is she doing that?" Clara asked in disbelief.

"It's only because he's so weak from dying. Otherwise, she would never be able to be manhandling him like that. Koschei is usually made of sterner stuff. Is it manhandling? Or is it womanhandling? I wonder what the proper term is for when you're getting mercilessly pummeled by a woman?" the Doctor said as his mind started to wander in contemplation.

"Doctor, focus! What are we going to do with him? We can't let him run around on the loose. He could kill a lot of people with those blasts of his," Clara said.

"Unfortunately, I'm sure that he already has. I'll just have to take him onboard the ship with us. We'll have to keep him there until I can think of a better way to deal with him," the Doctor said.

"Are you crazy? We can't have that psycho on the ship with us? He'll kill us just as soon as look at us!" Clara shouted.

"I won't kill him, and I'm not going to let him go free. What other choice is there, Clara?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm not asking you to kill him. I know how you feel about that. I'm just saying that we should leave him with some kind of proper authorities or something. How about UNIT? They could deal with him. Or what about Torchwood?" Clara asked.

"Clara, they're both very good at what they do, but neither one of them are equipped to deal with a half mad completely homicidal Time Lord who has nothing left to lose. It takes one to know one you see. I'm the only one who can keep up with him and anticipate his every move so that he doesn't escape until I can come up with a way to imprison him," the Doctor reasoned with her.

"Tie me up! Put me in chains! Anything! Just get this bloody madwoman off of me!" the Master cried out in pain.

"Amy, I think that he's had enough now," the Doctor said.

"Aw, I was just getting started. Oh well," Amy said with a smile as she punched the Master in the face and knocked him out cold.

"You're getting more and more like River all of the time," the Doctor complained as Amy dragged the Master toward the TARDIS.

"Thanks," Amy said.

"That wasn't a compliment," the Doctor replied.

Jenny stood at the entrance with a huge grin on her face as she said, "That was amazing! You are so cool!"

"I am, aren't I?" Amy said with a grin as she continued to drag the Master inside and looked for some rope to tie him up with. Surely the Doctor had some rope on the TARDIS somewhere after nine hundred years of traveling through time and space.

"Amy's not as cool as I am though, right?" the Doctor asked Jenny as he and Clara came back inside the TARDIS, and he shut the doors behind them.

"No, of course not, Dad. You're the coolest person in the universe," Jenny said.

The Doctor smiled as he said, "Well, I'm glad that we've got that straightened out."

Amy came up to the Doctor then and said in a serious voice, "This time around, I'm not your companion anymore, Doctor. After what I just did, I'd say that I'm much more than that now. I'm your equal, and I expect to be treated like one."

The Doctor smiled as he said, "Of course you are, Amy. You always were. Why do you think that I kept coming back to travel with you for? It's because I finally found someone who could keep up with me. In fact, you did more than just keep up with me. You actually understood me and knew what I was going to do next sometimes even before I did. You're one of a kind, Amelia Pond. I'll be glad to think of you as my equal."

"Good. Now tell me how cool I am," Amy said with a warm smile.

"You're cooler than fish fingers and custard, bow ties, and fezzes combined," the Doctor said meaning it.

"Thank you. I think that you're pretty cool too even if you do look like you dressed in the dark," Amy said with a grin on her face as she kissed his forehead.

She was so glad to be home again.

**Next: What will the Doctor do with the Master now that he (or rather Amy) has captured him? The Doctor won't have much time to think about it before he comes across yet another old enemy of his. Who will it be? **


	4. An Old Enemy Reborn

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

AN OLD ENEMY REBORN

The Master had been sitting in the corner of the Console Room yelling at the Doctor to release him for over half an hour when Amy finally snapped and said, "Shut up over there!"

"What are you going to do about it if I don't?" the Master said in an angry voice.

"Do you remember that beating that I gave you last time? That was me being nice. Now I'm angry. You do the math," Amy said as she gave him the look of death.

The Master saw the icy cold stare that she was giving him and quickly stopped talking. The Doctor grinned as he said, "I could have used you centuries ago, Pond."

"I think he might have just wet himself just then. Just a little," Clara joked.

"Shut up," the Master said with an embarrassed look on his face.

Jenny burst out laughing, and the Doctor quickly joined her. Amy glared at him as she said, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," the Doctor said as he began to show fear now as well.

People had often told him that he had an Oncoming Storm look when he got angry. He was sure that his couldn't even hold a candle to Amy's though. Now she was scary!

"Gotcha!" Amy said as she suddenly smiled at him.

The Doctor smiled back at her in relief as he said, "Now that I've got you as a partner I think that I may be out of a job soon. The Daleks will run screaming in terror from Amy Pond the Time Lady. I know you certainly scare me, and I'm your best friend."

"You seem to have a talent for putting Time Lords in their place," Clara noted.

"When you travel with him long enough, you have to if you want to keep your sanity," Amy said.

"She's always been nice to me," Jenny said.

"You're too sweet to be mad at. If the others were like you, there would never have been a Time War," Amy said.

"Yes, I'm sure that the Daleks would have been defeated by sweetness," the Master muttered.

"I was talking about if they had been as brave and smart as her. You lot didn't do so hot doing it your way either, did you? The Doctor was the only one who actually did something while everyone else was practically useless it always sounded like to me. What was it that you did again? Oh, yeah! You ran away and hid!" Amy said.

The Master grumbled to himself in a low voice as he glared at Amy. She was so at the top of his list if he ever got free.

Jenny smiled at Amy for saying those things about her. She was becoming very fond of her. She reminded her so much of Donna Noble who was the closest that she had ever come to having a mother.

The TARDIS suddenly stopped, and Amy went to the console immediately. She looked at the Doctor questioningly as she said, "It says that we just moved a few miles. We're still in the same year. It's even the same day only a few hours later."

"So?" the Doctor asked.

"The TARDIS usually takes you to some far off distant time and place. I don't think that we've ever just popped up only a few miles away on the same day before. You must have done it on purpose. You made a short hop for a reason, didn't you?" Amy asked suspiciously.

"No, it's just a coincidence that it happens to be the same date and roughly the same place that's all," the Doctor said.

"Oh, come on, Doctor. I may not have traveled with you as long as Amy has, but even I don't buy that. Why are we here for? What's going to happen here?" Clara asked.

"I've been receiving several strange energy readings from that area. I just wanted to check them out to make sure that they weren't alien in origin," the Doctor finally admitted.

"And you didn't tell me, your new partner, about this why exactly?" Amy asked in an annoyed voice.

"I honestly forgot, Amy. I'm just not used to sharing information with anyone until I'm sure of what I've found. I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything from now on," the Doctor said in an apologetic voice.

"You could start by doing it now," Amy said impatiently.

"Well, I've been receiving these very odd energy readings from an abandoned building in the middle of London. At least it looks abandoned from the outside, doesn't it?" the Doctor said as he called it up on the monitor.

"Yes, it does. It's been all boarded up. What kind of readings are they?" Amy asked.

"They're very similar to that of the Nestene Consciousness," the Doctor said.

"The Autons?" Amy asked as a million emotions shot through Amy's hearts at once. One of them was how weird it was to be thinking of herself as having two hearts now, and the others were all about Rory. The last time that she had encountered Autons one of them had turned out to be Rory.

"You didn't want to tell me until you were sure because you knew that it would remind me of Rory," Amy realized.

"Yes," the Doctor admitted.

"You don't have to do that, Doctor. It hurts but I can take it. You don't need to worry about me like that," Amy said.

"I always worry about you," the Doctor said.

She smiled at him and gave him a short hug as she said, "Maybe it's time that you stopped. I've been a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and I'm even a Time Lord now. I think that it's way past time that you realized that I can take care of myself, don't you?"

Amy could practically see images of her and Rory being taken away by the Weeping Angels flashing through his mind even as he looked at her. She knew that that incident was going to make it very unlikely that he would ever stop worrying about her any time soon. She was still going to try to get him to stop though. She was a mature, a very mature, adult now and was more than capable of taking care of herself.

"I'll try to stop, Amy," the Doctor said. She smiled at him as she could see that he actually meant that.

"I appreciate that. So the Autons have set up camp in the middle of London. Do you think that they've started impersonating people yet?" Amy asked.

"I don't think so. I haven't seen any reports of any mysterious disappearances or any other weird events in the area recently so maybe I've found them in time to stop them before they even get started for once," the Doctor said hopefully.

"Can someone tell me about these Autons?" Clara asked.

She was feeling very left out ever since Amy had arrived. The Doctor had stopped explaining things to her, and she had quickly found that she was being left in the dark.

The Doctor quickly explained about Autons to her, and Clara felt a little better. She would have felt a lot better though if the Doctor hadn't forgotten to tell her in the first place. She was willing to cut him a little slack though since his life was going through so many changes lately, and it was no doubt just a little bit overwhelming to him. She just hoped that this wasn't going to become a habit with him. She didn't go through everything that she had for him in order for him to just forget about her.

"I'm so sorry, Clara. I didn't realize that I had forgotten to tell you about them. I suppose that you didn't know about them either, did you?" the Doctor asked Jenny.

"I've run across some before actually and defeated them all by myself. I've done a lot of traveling on my own, Dad. I have a time machine too you know. It's nowhere near as good as the TARDIS, but it got the job done. I was actually quite proud of myself for making it," Jenny said with a fond smile on her face as she remembered all of the trouble that she had gone through in order to make it work.

"I'm proud of you too, Jenny. I always was. UNIT will take good care of it for you while you're not using it. I didn't tell anyone but Kate what it was of course. I don't want humans getting their hands on time travel. They'd have all of time and space plunged into chaos before you knew it," the Doctor said with a smug grin on his face.

"For once I agree with you on something. Humans can't be trusted with such power," the Master said.

"You're a fine one to talk. That's enough with the human bashing, Doctor. Let's go check out these Autons," Amy said.

"Wait a minute! We still haven't decided what to do with him yet," Clara said as she gestured toward the Master.

"That's right. We can't just leave him here by himself. Either we take him somewhere and dump him or one of us is going to have to babysit him to make sure that he doesn't escape," Amy said.

"I'll do it," Jenny volunteered.

The Master smiled at the thought of it. He was certain that he could use the young Time Lady's compassionate nature against her in order to escape. He would just pretend to be sick and then improvise from there.

As a matter of fact, he wouldn't have to pretend much. He actually was sick. He was still dying after all.

"Hey! I saw that look! Don't even think about it. If you even so much as touch Jenny, I'll make what I did to you before seem like love taps in comparison," Amy threatened.

"You're going to threaten me once too often, and then you're going to regret it. You're already at the top of my hit list, Amy Pond. Just remember that. I will get free, and then I'm going to enjoy killing you. I still haven't decided what I'll do to you yet, but I'm going to make it very slow and painful," the Master threatened.

"Leave her alone," the Doctor said in the coldest voice that any of them except the Master had ever heard him use.

"Oh, this one's special to you, isn't she? That's good to know. That'll make killing her even more enjoyable," the Master said as he started laughing.

Clara immediately punched him in the jar as she said, "You leave my friends alone! If you so much as think of hurting any of them, you'll answer to me. I've faced death thousands of times before in thousands of different ways. I've seen things, many horrible things, that make even you look tiny and insignificant in comparison. You don't scare me. Not in the slightest."

The Doctor looked at her with newfound respect as he smiled at her. Not many people would stand up to the Master like that especially not when he was laughing. The Master's laughter always scared everyone because it told them exactly just how demented and psychotic that he truly was.

"Now you're on my list too," the Master muttered as he snarled in rage at Clara.

"You're right, Clara. We can't leave him here alone, and I don't feel right about leaving any of you alone with him. He's just too dangerous. I'll stay with him myself. You can investigate the Autons, Amy," the Doctor said.

"What?" Amy asked in shock.

"It's time that I let you handle one solo I think. You wanted to be equals after all. Go ahead. You handle this one," the Doctor said.

"Okay. Thanks," was all that Amy said.

She still couldn't believe that he was doing this. She had wanted to be an equal though, and now she'd gotten exactly what she wanted.

As Amy started toward the door, she saw a sonic screwdriver suddenly pop out of the console. This one was smaller and much more slender than the one that the Doctor usually carried. It also had a red light on top.

"That's yours if you want it. The TARDIS thought that you might need it," the Doctor said as he looked at her with pride.

"Thank you. Both of you," Amy said as she held up her sonic and looked it over with a smile on her face.

"I'm going too. I won't let you go by yourself," Clara said.

"So am I. I'm not getting left out of this," Jenny said.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked. The Doctor could see hesitation in her eyes.

She wasn't sure about taking others with her. The Doctor could see that she didn't want to be responsible for getting anyone else hurt or worse. She had to find out sooner or later that that came with the job, and it might as well be now he thought to himself.

"Go ahead and take them, Amy. You'll do a good job. I know you will," the Doctor encouraged her.

"Thanks," Amy said with a warm smile as she led the way out of the TARDIS and the others followed.

"Now, it's just you and me," the Doctor said to the Master.

"You wanted them to leave us here alone, didn't you? What do you have planned that you don't want your trusted companions finding out about, Doctor? I'm just dying to find out," the Master said with a smirk.

"You'll see," the Doctor said as he led the Master out of the Console Room and down the corridors of the TARDIS.

When the Master saw where the Doctor had taken him, he started to scream. The Doctor didn't want to do this to him, but he had no other choice. He was simply too dangerous to be allowed to roam free.

Amy meanwhile entered the abandoned warehouse with Clara and Jenny close behind her as she slowly followed the readings on her new sonic to their source. She smiled as she realized that the glowing red light on top of it was the exact same color as her hair. Either the TARDIS or more likely the Doctor had a very warped sense of humor.

She quickly followed the sonic to the middle of the warehouse and found a man and a young girl around eighteen years old huddled together under an old blanket. They were obviously freezing.

Amy's heart would have gone out to them if the sonic wasn't telling her that the man was an Auton and shouldn't be feeling any cold at all or anything else for that matter. She doubled checked the scan and saw that it was right.

The girl, however, read as human. What was the Auton doing with her, and why did it seem to be the only Auton here? She saw no other Auton readings just the one.

She realized that there was no time like the present to get her answer.

"Hello, my name's Amy Pond, and I'd really like to know what you're doing here on my planet," Amy suddenly said out of the blue without announcing herself.

"Amy?" a very familiar voice to her said as the man removed the blanket around him and wrapped it around the shivering girl.

"Oh, my God!" Amy said.

"Who is it?" Clara asked as she realized that Amy recognized the man.

"Rory!" Amy shouted as her mouth fell open in shock.

"Amy? Is it really you?" Rory asked as he looked just as shocked as she was.

"That's what I should be asking you, isn't it? The sonic here says that you're an Auton. This is way too late for you to still be Auton Rory though. All that I can assume then is that this is a trap of some sort for me," Amy said.

The two of them stared at each other without speaking for a long time as they both searched each other's eyes for signs that the other was real. Both of them wanted for the other to be real so much.

Finally Amy broke the silence as she said in a pleading voice, "Please tell me that you're not a trap."

"I'm not a trap. It's really me, Amy. I think that you're really you too. I have to find out which you though. Is this after Manhattan?" Rory asked as he used one of River's old tricks.

"Way after Manhattan. As in, I died of old age years after you did," Amy said.

"What? How are you here then?" Rory asked in total confusion.

"It turns out that giving birth to River caused me to become a Time Lady when I died. What's your story?" Amy asked.

"A Time Lady? I guess that makes sense. It makes much more sense than what happened to me anyway. I woke up in this body right after I died, Amy. I just suddenly found myself in the middle of London all alone with no idea how I got there. I still don't know how or why I'm an Auton again or even for sure that I'm the real me. I think that I am. I feel like I am," Rory said.

"You have to be," Amy said as she kissed him and wrapped her arms around him.

The girl who had been with Rory looked up at Clara and Jenny and smiled at them as she said, "I'm Rayna O' Mara. I assume that you know Rory or at least that she obviously does anyway. Rory took me in after he found me wandering around alone with no memory of how I got there. He and I have been staying in this warehouse for the last few days together trying not to freeze to death. Well, I've been trying not to anyway. The cold doesn't seem to bother him. We weren't doing anything by the way. I was just trying to use his body heat to stay warm. I don't think of him that way, and I know that he doesn't think of me like that. I just wanted to make that clear."

"I believe you just based off of that if nothing else," Clara said with a smile as she pointed at Amy and Rory who were still kissing.

"You lost your memory? So you don't remember anything? You obviously remember your name," Jenny said.

"I actually made that name up a few days ago. I took those two names off of some signs that I was looking at as I wandered around the city by myself. They just felt right to me somehow especially the first one. I really don't remember anything. Nothing. If it wasn't for Rory, I'd probably be dead by now," Rayna said.

"Who is Rory?" Jenny asked.

"Amy's husband. I've met him before. Well, Oswin did anyway," Clara said.

"Huh?" Jenny asked.

"I'll explain later," Clara said.

As Amy pulled away from Rory, she said, "The Doctor knew. He had to know. He knew that it was you. That's why he sent me in here alone."

After Clara cleared her throat, Amy quickly added, "I mean that he sent us in here alone. Sorry."

"It's okay. You're still getting used to being a leader," Clara said.

"A leader?" Rory asked.

"Things have changed since you've been gone," Amy said.

"Well, suddenly you're a Time Lady now so yeah I get that. You'll have to fill me in on the rest of it later. This is Rayna. She's my friend. I've been trying to keep her alive for the last few days," Rory said.

"Yes, I heard her talking to the others. I actually was paying attention to everything else that was going on around me. Your kisses aren't that good," Amy teased him.

"That's funny because I wasn't aware of anything else but you," Rory said with a grin.

They began to kiss again as Clara and Jenny both sighed and rolled their eyes. This might take a while.

Rayna meanwhile was very glad that Rory at least had gotten his wish. She had heard him say Amy's name sometimes late at night when he thought that she was sleeping. She knew that he was missing her and had often wondered what had happened to her.

If only her own wish could come true. She wished that she knew who she was. She honestly couldn't remember though.

_I've been trying to tell you who you are for the last few days, but you couldn't hear me. Not until now anyway. Not until you heard that redheaded woman mentioning Time Lords. That sparked a memory, didn't it? Now you're finally starting to remember or you wouldn't be hearing my voice. I know who you are, Rayna. I know all about you. All that you have to do to learn everything that I know is to open the watch that's in your pants pocket. Open the watch, and you'll remember everything._ A voice said in Rayna's mind.

Rayna thought that she must be going insane to be hearing voices, but what if it was true? She did have an old fob watch in her pants, but it was broken. It didn't open. Or did it?

"Come on, Rayna. Let's go. We're going back to the TARDIS. I'm going to find out what the Doctor did and didn't know," Amy said and shook Rayna out of her thoughts.

Rayna forgot about the watch and the voice as soon as Amy finished speaking. "The TARDIS?" Rayna asked.

"You'll see. Come along, O'Mara," Amy said.

Then her eyes widened in horror as she said, "Please tell me I did not just say that!"

Rory grinned as he said, "Yes, you did."

"It must be a Time Lord thing. It must do something to your mind," Amy said.

"Oh, thanks. You're really giving me something to look forward to," Clara said with a grin.

"You're a Time Lady too?" Rory asked.

"I will be soon. I'm slowly turning into one I'm afraid," Clara said.

"Amy, I'm going to need a lot of explanations I think. Starting with why your friend sounds just like Oswin Oswald," Rory said.

"That's because I am Oswin, Nina," Clara said with an evil grin.

Rory looked at her in shock as Amy said, "I'll tell you later. Come on."

As soon as the five of them went back to the TARDIS, they found the Doctor alone in the Console Room, and the Master nowhere in sight. Amy immediately knew that something had happened and asked, "Doctor, where's the Master?"

"I see you found Rory. Hello, Rory! I knew that it was him you see. I could tell because he had the same energy signature that he did when he was an Auton before. Someone wanted me to find him and rescue him," the Doctor said happily.

"Doctor, where is the Master?" Amy asked again.

"Someone wanted you to find me? Who? Did they somehow make me into an Auton again?" Rory asked.

"I imagine so. I wouldn't put it past her," the Doctor said.

"Who?" Rory asked.

"River. She must have somehow captured your consciousness as you died and then put it into another Auton body made to look like you. Then she left you where she knew that I would find you. It has to be her. She must have been very busy at the end. She arranged for me to find Amy and now you. She wanted you to spend eternity with him, Amy, and this was the only way that she knew how," the Doctor said.

Amy actually forgot about the Master for a moment as she said, "I wish that she could have saved herself too so that I could thank her."

"So do I," the Doctor said sadly. Clara immediately put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he smiled at her.

"River's dead. Things really have changed a lot," Rory said in a numb voice.

"I'm sorry, Rory. Anthony and the rest of the family are still around though. They'll be so happy to see you and know that you're alright," Amy said.

"I just don't know how to explain being an Auton to them. That's why I never tried to go back to Leadworth. That and I thought that you were dead," Rory said.

"They'll understand, Rory. We'll take you back as soon as I discover what happened to the Master. Where is he, Doctor?" Amy asked.

"The Master? Who is the Master, Doctor?" the Master said as he walked into the Console Room.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Amy demanded.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't properly introduced you. This is my new companion, Professor Yana. Professor Yana, this is my friend and partner, Amy Pond," the Doctor said.

"What?" Amy asked in complete confusion.

Meanwhile Rayna looked around the Console Room in awe before she heard that same voice in her head once more. Now it was practically shouting at her.

_Open the watch and release me. You must remember. You are not Rayna O'Mara. You are a Time Lord. You are the Rani!_ The voice said in her mind.

Rayna looked at Rory in despair as she said, "Rory, I think that I'm going mad. Please help me!"

Then she collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS.

**Next: What in the world is going on with the Master? I'm sure that you already know. Will Rayna ever open the watch? Let's just say that you're really not going to like the answer to that one and neither will the Doctor.**


	5. Another Unearthly Child

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

ANOTHER UNEARTHLY CHILD

As Rayna silently slept in the medical bay, the Doctor watched her with concern on his face. He had found her fob watch in her pocket and knew instantly that she was a Time Lady. Which one was she though?

He had no way of knowing that. Not until she opened the watch. By then it would be too late. He was tempted to keep the watch just as he had the Master's when he had turned him back into the human Professor Yana once more and never give it back to her. That way he could be sure that a horrible danger to humanity would never be unleashed on it.

What if she were one of the good ones though? What if she were Romana? He missed Romana so much. What if this girl was Romana, and he never found out? He would lose the chance to get his friend back forever.

He wasn't sure what to do, and he kept debating the pros and cons of it over and over again back and forth in his mind. He decided to ask Pond. She wanted to be his equal now so it was time that he started consulting her in making decisions anyway.

"Amy, there's something that I need to tell you about Rayna," the Doctor said as he walked out of the medical bay and found her and Rory waiting outside.

"Is she alright? She's not dying, is she? I was always afraid that she was going to get sick from the cold," Rory said with worry.

Amy smiled at him as she could see Rory's paternal side coming through in his concern for Rayna. She had to admit that she had taken a liking to her herself even though she hadn't known her that long.

"No, she's not sick. There's nothing wrong with her whatsoever," the Doctor said.

"Why did she faint then?" Amy asked.

"She probably fainted because she was starting to hear the voice coming from this watch, and she thought that she was losing her mind," the Doctor said as he showed them Rayna's fob watch.

Amy's mouth opened in surprise as she said, "Is that one of the fob watches that you told me about? Is Rayna another Time Lord that's been turned human like you did to the Master?"

"Yes, she is," the Doctor said.

It was Rory's turn to look shocked as he said, "That sweet innocent girl is a Time Lord? I'd never believe it. She just seems so . . . normal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Doctor asked indignantly.

"That you're not," Amy said bluntly.

"Well, not all Time Lords are like me. Most of them were all stiff and formal. They weren't as fun as I am. To be honest, they always considered me kind of strange," the Doctor admitted.

"No telling. So even to the aliens you're alien," Amy said with a grin.

"Shut up," the Doctor said as he pouted.

"So that watch contains the real Rayna?" Rory asked.

"Yes. She's starting to remember who she really is now, and as soon as she does she'll open this. Once she opens this watch, the person that you know will be gone forever. She'll be replaced by her original self whoever that is," the Doctor said.

"That's what's troubling you, isn't it? You don't know who she is, and you're afraid that she'll turn out to be as rotten as the Master," Amy guessed.

"Yes. I don't know whether to let her keep this watch or to hide it away from her forever. What do you think that I should do?" the Doctor asked Amy.

Amy smiled with gratitude as she said, "Thank you for asking. I appreciate that. Well, I think that you should keep it. We don't need another Master running around here. One was bad enough."

"Wait a minute, Amy. What if she's just as good a person as a Time Lord as she is as a human? What right do we have to keep her true identity from her? She's been very upset about not knowing who she is as long as I've known her. I don't think that it's right to keep it from her," Rory argued.

"Is it right to give it back and then have her turn on us and try to kill us?" Amy asked.

"She's not that kind of person," Rory said.

"She's not now, but she could change once she opens this. The Chameleon Arch changes a Time Lord's personality and makes them different from how they usually are in order to better hide them. Look what it did to the Master. He was the most vicious of my race, and now he's all nice and pleasant. He's really become rather boring if you ask me. Still I'd rather him be boring than homicidal," the Doctor said.

"Me too. I'll gladly keep nice, sweet Rayna over a potential psychotic lunatic any day," Amy said.

"Do I have the right though? Do I really have the right to keep who she is from her, good or bad?" the Doctor asked as he stared at the watch in indecision.

"Yes, you certainly do," Amy quickly said.

"No," Rory said just as quickly.

"Thanks a lot, Ponds. You've been a lot of help," the Doctor said with a sigh.

"I think that you should let her decide," Clara said.

The Doctor saw her standing down the corridor in surprise. He hadn't even known that she was there.

"Maybe you're right, Clara," the Doctor said.

"Thank you, Doctor. It's nice to be listened to for once," Clara said.

"I always listen to you," the Doctor said.

"Not lately you don't. Lately I feel like I don't even exist anymore. Then again, soon now I might not," Clara said.

"That's nonsense, Clara. Of course you exist, and I always listen to you. As for your losing who you are once the change is complete, I know that's not going to happen," the Doctor said with an air of certainty.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Clara asked.

"Because you're still yourself that's why," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm still myself. That's because I haven't finished changing yet," Clara said.

"So you still love your father and the kids? You still want to bake soufflés? You still like to wear those tight skirts?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, yes, and they're not that tight," Clara said as she blushed in embarrassment.

The Doctor began to blush too as he quickly tried to change the subject by saying, "So basically what you're telling me is that right now you are still Clara. You haven't changed at all, right?"

"Yes, that's right. I'm still me right now. What are you getting at?" Clara asked.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned Clara with it. Then he showed it to Clara who gasped in shock and then began to smile.

"What is it, Doctor? What's going on?" Amy asked.

"I'm a full Time Lady now, Amy. I've finished changing, and I'm still me. I'm still me," Clara said with relief as she began crying.

"Why are you crying? I thought you'd be happy," the Doctor asked.

"I am happy," Clara said.

"Even as a Time Lady, you're still way too human," the Doctor said as he shook his head at her.

"I know. That's why I'm happy," Clara said with a grin.

The Doctor began to smile as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. Clara smiled and felt at peace for the first time since she found out that she was changing.

"Yeah, they're not in love," Amy whispered to Rory.

"I'm going to make one of my special soufflés to celebrate me staying myself. You're all going to love it. I'm sure now that I'm a Time Lord that I'll get it right this time. I mean having a superior brain should surely improve my cooking skills, right?" Clara asked hopefully.

"You'd think so but no. I certainly can't cook to save my life," the Doctor said.

"Well, I'm going to try anyway. Maybe I've suddenly become a master chef," Clara said as she began to walk away with a peaceful smile on her face.

"Clara?" The Doctor said.

"Yes?" Clara asked.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel like I'm ignoring you or that you're not important. You are important to me. More important than you know. I care so much about you. I . . ." the Doctor said and then hesitated.

"Say it!" Amy hissed to him under her breath.

"I love you, Clara. I love you with all of my hearts," the Doctor said.

Clara began to smile so wide that Amy thought that her face was about to break in half. She rushed into the Doctor's arms and said, "I love you too. I love you too."

The Doctor held her for a moment, and then he hesitantly started to slowly move his face closer and closer towards hers in order to kiss her. Clara smiled as she saw that he was terrified. She decided to meet him halfway. She grabbed his face in her hands and suddenly kissed him.

The Doctor looked surprised but pleased as Clara said, "If I had to wait on you, I'd be here all day."

Then they kissed again. Amy and Rory quickly left as the kiss between the two Time Lords started to deepen and turn more passionate. Amy smiled at Rory as she whispered, "It's about time."

"Where's Dad?" Jenny asked as Amy and Rory entered the Console Room.

"He's with Clara. They're a little busy right now so I don't think that you should bother him," Amy said with a huge smile on her face.

Jenny quickly realized from the look on Amy's face what must have happened as she said, "He's finally told her, hasn't he?"

"Yes," Amy said happily.

"Well, it's about time. I like Clara and I think that she'll be good for him. I don't know if I really think of her as a Mum though. She's a little too young to be my Mum," Jenny said.

"She'll be just fine. You'll learn to love her in no time. You'll see," Amy said.

"She's not who I picture when I think of my Mum though," Jenny said as she looked like she wanted to say more but either couldn't or wouldn't.

"Who do you picture?" Amy asked curiously.

"No one in particular. Never mind," Jenny said nervously as she quickly left the Console Room.

"What was that about?" Amy asked Rory.

"I don't know," Rory said.

He thought that he had a pretty good idea though. He wondered if maybe he should talk to Jenny later. She might open up to him where she wouldn't with Amy.

Rayna woke up to find Professor Yana watching over her. She smiled at him as she quickly tried to cover up what had happened before by saying, "I'm sorry if I've worried everyone. I don't know what came over me. I just suddenly felt faint for some reason. I'm much better now though."

"I'm not a medical doctor, my dear, so I wouldn't know. I'll leave it to the Doctor to decide that. I'm a scientist so that's not exactly my domain you see," Yana said.

"Do I know you? You seem so familiar to me somehow," Rayna asked as she stared at him.

"I don't think so. Not unless you've been to the end of time. That's where I'm from. I don't know if the Doctor's told you or not, but this is a time machine. He used it to rescue me from being destroyed along with the rest of humanity at the end of the universe. I've been traveling with him ever since. I owe him my life. In fact, the TARDIS itself somehow rejuvenated me when I was dying. It made me into a young man again even as it saved my life. I don't understand what happened so don't ask me to explain it. It just worked somehow. He fed me some kind of mumbo jumbo about the Heart of the TARDIS or something. I don't understand a bit of it even with my knowledge," Yana said.

"A time machine? A time machine that's bigger on the inside. This all seems so familiar to me somehow. It can't be though. Can it?" Rayna asked.

"I don't see how. The Doctor always said up until now that he was the last of his kind. That was before he found Amy and Jenny again and Clara was changed at Trenzalore of course. He's the only one with a TARDIS though. Unless you somehow traveled with the Doctor before, there's no way that you could be familiar with any of this," Yana said.

"I guess not. It just seems like I've seen this all before though somehow. I suppose that's just silly though," Rayna said.

"Not as silly as you might think," the Doctor said as he suddenly appeared in the room with Clara. Rayna noticed that the two of them were holding hands and smiled. She knew that they were a couple! She thought that they were very cute together.

Then she saw that the Doctor had her old fob watch in his hand, and she suddenly became very angry. "You took that from my pocket!" Rayna accused him.

"I'm sorry. I did it because I wanted to get a closer look at it. Now I know who you are or at least I know part of who you are," the Doctor said as he explained about the watch to her and what it meant.

Rayna looked at him in disbelief as he finished. This couldn't be real. She was an alien?

"So if I open that watch, I'll remember who I really am. However, I won't be this person that I am now anymore? That's just too ironic. In order to know who I really am, I have to become someone else. I have to leave behind my identity. It sounds really metaphysical somehow. What if I don't want to? What if who I really am is evil?" Rayna said.

"You'll never know until you open the watch. You don't have to open it though. If you want, I can keep this for you. That way you don't have to be afraid that you might become someone who you don't want to be. It's up to you," the Doctor said.

"You took the watch because you're afraid of who I might turn out to be. That's it, isn't it?" Rayna realized.

"Yes. I'm sorry but that's true. If you do decide to open the watch, I'll have to lock you in one of the rooms until I determine that you're safe. I can't have you hurting the people that I care about," the Doctor said.

"I can understand that. I just don't know what to do. I'll really be someone completely different?" Rayna asked.

"Yes, that's very possible," the Doctor said.

Rayna wrestled with this problem for a moment until she finally came to a decision. "I have to know. I need to know who I really am," Rayna said.

"Alright then. I'll have to give you a room of your own and lock you in it. I'm sorry," the Doctor said.

"So am I," Rayna said.

"For what?" the Doctor asked.

"For this. Unlock spray," Rayna commanded.

"What?" the Doctor asked in confusion.

A thin spray of gas came flowing out of the fob watch, and the Doctor, Clara, and Yana instantly collapsed to the floor unconscious. Just then Amy and Rory came to the door of the medical bay, and Amy said, "What the?! What did you do?"

"I'm sorry. The voice in the watch told me to do it. She said that I had to in order to know who I really am," Rayna said.

"Amy, don't breathe it in! Run!" Rory shouted.

It was already too late though. Amy collapsed in Rory's arms. While Rory was distracted with checking on Amy's vital signs, Rayna opened the watch.

She was surrounded by a golden light, and then she no longer existed. The Rani now stood in her place and smiled.

"Interesting. The gas doesn't affect you. That fact coupled with the fact that you didn't feel the intense cold all of those nights in the warehouse tells me for certain that you aren't human. What are you then?" the Rani asked as she studied him intently.

"What did you do to her?" Rory asked in anguish.

"She's alright. The gas didn't hurt her. I promise," the Rani said in a gentle voice.

"Rayna?" Rory asked in a hopeful tone that at least something of her had survived. For a moment there, she had seemed just like Rayna again.

"She's dead, Rory. My name is the Rani. I'm taking over this ship now. Don't try to stop me," the Rani said as she pulled the Doctor's sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at him.

Rory looked at her with hurt eyes as he said, "I thought you were my friend. That person is gone now though, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. She was way too nice for me anyway. I won't show you any mercy whatsoever if you stand in my way so don't test my patience. You're going to have to make a decision right now. Either you work with me or I'll have to use the Doctor's sonic device to destroy you," the Rani said.

"Work with you doing what?" Rory asked.

The Rani's expression softened and once again reminded him of Rayna's as she said, "I just want some genetic samples from them for my experiments. That's all. I won't hurt them."

"What kind of experiments?" Rory asked.

"Professor Yana over there or as I always knew him, the Master, told me that the Doctor was the last of his kind. I was always afraid that this was going to happen from the moment that the Time War started. I knew that Rassilon was going to lead us to our extinction. I didn't want to help him, but I had no choice. He was going to force me to regenerate into a grotesque abomination if I hadn't. I saw him do it to others who defied him. He made them into twisted mockeries of life who lived each day in eternal torment and pain. Now I almost wish that I had let him do it. He didn't twist me on the outside, but he certainly twisted me on the inside, Rory. He made me create so many terrible things in my labs for the war. I created the Nightmare Child, the Horde of Travesties, and so many other horrible, unspeakable things. I didn't want to do any of that, and I didn't want to be responsible for all of that death and destruction. It's not like I'm a saint. I've been responsible for terrible things myself in the name of research, but what I did was nothing compared to what Rassilon made me do. When I looked into his eyes, I saw nothing but true evil there. Now I know that what I did helped led directly to the destruction of my race. I have to fix that somehow. I'm going to recreate the Time Lords. Only this time I'm going to make them better. I'm going to make sure that a monster like Rassilon can never be born again. I'll alter the genes and breed out all undesirable qualities. I'll make sure that this time the Time Lords are who they always should have been. I'll make sure that there will never be another Rassilon, Koschei, or me," the Rani said in a haunted voice filled with sorrow.

Rory actually felt sorry for her and started toward her as he forgot for a moment that she was holding the sonic on him. "Stay back! I will use this. I've scanned you now, and I know that you're an Auton. I can use this to shut you down. I don't want to but I will," the Rani threatened.

"I wasn't going to . . ." Rory started to say and then stopped talking. What was the use? The Rayna that he knew was gone anyway, and this new person in her place would never understand.

A look of realization came over the Rani's face then as she said, "Oh, that's so very you, isn't it? You were going to comfort me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of this. You took me in and helped me when I was alone and afraid. You deserve better than this."

"It's not too late to stop this. You haven't hurt anyone. All you have to do is turn yourself in to the Doctor. I'm sure he'll forgive you," Rory said.

"Of course he will, and then he'll turn me back into Rayna. He'll make me forget who I am just like he did to Koschei," the Rani said.

"Is that such a bad thing? You sound like you want to forget," Rory said.

"I do. It's why I fled at the first opportunity and hid myself so that Rassilon would never find me again. At that moment, I just wanted to run and keep on running forever. I never wanted to remember again. Then I began to feel so empty inside. In order to completely hide myself, I had turned myself into someone who wasn't me. I was never that nice and that much of a goody goody in my life. It was disgusting," the Rani said with a grimace as she stuck her tongue out and made a gagging noise.

Rory began to laugh at the expression on her face. It was just funny to him for some reason.

"What are you laughing at?" the Rani asked in anger.

"That expression on your face," Rory said.

Despite herself, the Rani smiled at him and started laughing along with him. She could feel that something had changed inside of her. She was no longer the person who she had been before the Time War. Maybe that was a good thing.

"Rory, what's going on?" Jenny's voice asked from down the hall.

"Jen, go back!" Rory warned.

"What? What are you talking about?" Jenny asked as she came into the medical bay to find everyone but Rory unconscious and the Rani still holding the sonic at his chest.

"No! Leave them alone!" Jenny said as she ran toward the Rani.

The two of them began grappling with each other while Rory stood there not knowing what to do. He finally decided to stun the Rani with the gun in his hand. He couldn't bring himself to do anything more than that to her.

His hand opened up to reveal the gun inside of it, but the Rani was quicker than he was. She used the sonic screwdriver to shut him down in the blink of an eye. Rory slumped over and Jenny screamed, "No! You killed him!"

"No, he's alright. I've just shut him down a while," the Rani reassured her in a gentle tone.

"He's dead! I finally found a family, and you've taken them away from me!" Jenny screamed as she became filled with anger.

She began mercilessly pummeling the Rani with one attack after another without stopping like a machine, and the Rani feared that she was going to tear her apart in her grief. She never would have suspected that this otherwise innocent girl could become such an engine of destruction.

It was all that she could do to keep herself alive as she struggled toward the entrance of the medical bay. Before Jenny could stop her, she reached the door controls and locked Jenny inside with the others.

"Let me out!" Jenny screamed as she beat on the door.

"Listen to me. None of them are dead. They're okay. I put them to sleep just like I'm going to do to you. Sleep and be at peace," the Rani said as she touched a button on her watch and more gas poured out into the medical bay through the framework of the door.

"No, don't!" Jenny said as she slumped over unconscious.

"Maybe I should have let you do it. I probably deserve it. Not yet though. I can't allow myself to die now. I still have a mission to fulfill first," the Rani said.

The Doctor was the first to wake up hours later. He found himself and the others tied to beds in the medical bay with the Rani nearby performing experiments on some of the equipment. He could see from the mark on his arm that she had taken some of his blood and tissues. He could also see that she had done the same to Clara as well, and this enraged him.

"What have you done? What is it that you're planning this time?" the Doctor asked in anger.

"This time I'm actually doing a good thing, Doctor. I'm recreating the Time Lords and bringing them back better than they were before. I've just created the first of them as a matter of fact and used a fast growing process to accelerate their growth," the Rani said proudly.

"You used my genes, didn't you? Mine and Clara's!" the Doctor said outraged.

"Yes, I wanted the two of you to be the parents of the new Time Lords. You were always the best of us, Doctor, as much as that kills me to admit that. Who better to be the progenitor of our new race? Say hello to your new daughter," the Rani said happily.

She pointed toward the doorway of the medical bay as a beautiful young brunette in her late teens walked in with a nervous smile on her face. The Doctor could tell that she was terrified of meeting him for the first time and found himself already beginning to feel sympathy for her despite her origins. His hearts reached out to her as he said, "Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. She's been very nice to me. It's so good to meet you, Dad. I'm sorry for the circumstances though. I don't think that she'll hurt you if that makes you feel any better. My name's Susan by the way," the girl said with a warm smile.

The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise as the Rani smiled at him.

"I named her after your granddaughter. She's my gift to you. Isn't she perfect, Doctor? She's kind and gentle with no feelings of aggression or delusions of grandeur whatsoever. Now imagine a whole race of people just like her. The Time Lords will be reborn, and this time they'll protect the universe instead of trying to destroy it. I'll finally make up for all of the evil that I've done," the Rani said.

"I never thought that you were truly evil, Ushas," the Doctor said.

"I was close enough. Being cold and uncaring is almost as bad as being deliberately evil, isn't it?" the Rani said.

"Oh, I'd say that being evil is still far worse than just being amoral, my dear Rani," the voice of the Master said from somewhere behind Susan.

He suddenly grabbed Susan from behind and made her scream in terror as he held his Laser Screwdriver to her head.

"You brought him back? How could you?" the Doctor asked in anger.

"I didn't do anything. He was still Yana a minute ago. I had him helping me with my experiments, but I never told him who he was. I don't know what happened," the Rani said in confusion.

The Master laughed at the look of concern on her face as he said, "It seems that good old Professor Yana found a most unusual object in the freezer in the kitchen. He couldn't help but want to investigate it, and then I had him."

The Master showed them his fob watch, and the Rani said in complete disbelief, "You put his watch in the freezer?"

"Well, where else do you put important things that you don't want to get lost? I always store things in the freezer," the Doctor said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"You're an idiot," the Rani said with a sigh.

"No, he's predictable is what he is. Always so predictable, aren't you, Doctor? I could always read you like a book. Just as I know that you'll let me have whatever I want as long as I don't hurt this girl," the Master said confidently as he held the screwdriver closer to Susan's head.

"What is it you want? The TARDIS?" the Doctor asked in a tired voice.

"Oh, no. I want much more than that. The Rani is going to make her new race of Time Lords according to my design. They're all going to be just like me, and I will be their leader. I'll finally have my own group of Time Lords who will obey only me, and I'll use them and the TARDIS to take over the universe. At long last, I'll finally be the Master of all of time and space!" the Master said as he burst into a fit of cold, heartless laughter.

The Rani glared at him. She wasn't going to let this happen again. She was not going to be used by yet another madman to launch a new group of terrors on the universe.

She would rather die first.

**Next: The Doctor and the Rani join forces against the Master for the fate of the universe, and before the day is through the Doctor will face a heartbreaking loss. **


	6. Changes

CHAPTER 6

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

CHANGES

The Master smiled in triumph as he watched the Rani starting to work on a new batch of Time Lords based on his genes. He was so close now to finally gaining the ultimate power that he had dreamed of for so long.

"I want them to be exactly like me in every way but one. I want them to obey me completely and have no will of their own," the Master said.

"Then they won't be just like you then, will they? No one could ever control you, could they? You can't even control yourself," the Rani commented.

"I can do without the comments, Ushas. Just create my new army for me and keep your thoughts to yourself," the Master said.

"Don't do this. I'm not worth it. I'm not even your real daughter," Susan said.

"Don't say that. Of course you are," the Doctor said.

"I don't want to be responsible for untold death and destruction. I'd rather die," Susan said.

The Rani thought to herself that she could sympathize with her. She was thinking the exact same thing. She was not going to let the Master make her do this. She had a plan. One that she hoped that both the Doctor and Susan would forgive her for.

"Activate self-defense mode," the Rani said.

Susan suddenly began screaming, and then she exploded with regenerative energy. The Master was flung back from her and thrown violently to the floor as his laser screwdriver became overloaded by the sudden increase of energy in the area and burnt out.

The Rani instantly ran to release the Doctor from his restraints. "I'm sorry for all of this. I just want you to know that," the Rani said before she went to release Clara next.

The Doctor quickly faced off against the Master who was now back on his feet as Susan continued to scream and release regenerative energy in massive quantities. "I have no idea what's going on here, but I'm not going back to being your human dupe anymore, Doctor. I'll kill all of you first. I will never be Yana ever again," the Master threatened.

The two ancient enemies began engaging in brutal hand to hand combat as the Rani finished freeing Clara from her restraints.

Clara woke up as soon as the Rani touched her, and she said, "What's happening? Who is that poor girl, and why is she in so much pain?"

"That is your new daughter with the Doctor that I created from your genes. Her name is Susan, and I'm afraid that she's in all of that pain because of me. The Master was threatening her in order to make me build him an unbeatable army. I wasn't about to do that ever again so I activated a hidden biological failsafe that I built into Susan's body. It was designed to activate in case anyone ever tried to tamper with her in any way and use her as a weapon. Now she's in a state of perpetual regeneration so that no one can lay a hand on her," the Rani said.

"My daughter? You made a child using my genes and didn't even ask me about it?" Clara asked outraged.

"I wanted to create a new race of Time Lords using you and the Doctor as the progenitors. I just wanted to create a force for good in the universe. I should never have done anything. I should have known that everything that I touch turns to ashes. Listen to her. She's in so much pain, and it's all my fault," the Rani said mournfully.

"What's going to happen to her?" Clara asked.

"She's using up all of her regenerative energy for her entire lifetime all at once. If she doesn't stop soon, she'll use up all of her regenerations at once and burn herself out. She'll die instantly as she works her way through her entire life cycle," the Rani said.

"Stop it then! Don't let her die!" Clara cried out.

"I can't. It was designed to stop her from ever being used as a weapon by anyone. It will continue until she dies. I'm sorry. I never should have done this," the Rani said in despair.

"Why did you do that to her?!" Clara screamed in rage.

"I had to. The Master wanted me to create an army of monsters for him to take over the universe with. I couldn't do that. I had to remove her from the equation so that he had no more leverage against us," the Rani said.

"This is what I was afraid of becoming when I first learned that I would become a Time Lord. I feared that I would become a cold, heartless creature like you. Now I know that I never will. My heart is breaking while you act like it was a necessary means to an end. You just told me that I have a daughter and that she's going to die in the same minute. I will not accept that. She will survive no matter what. I can't stand by and do nothing when others are in danger especially not my own daughter," Clara said enraged.

"There's nothing that I can do or I would do it. I do feel horrible for what I did to her. I'm not heartless. Not anymore. I want to save her, but I don't know how. I can't stop it now. I feel like a part of me is dying with her," the Rani protested.

Clara grabbed her by the shoulders and shouted, "Do something! Now!"

"There's only one thing that I can do," the Rani said in a sad voice. She pulled out the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and activated the Auton part of Rory only.

"Fire," the Rani ordered.

Rory's hand opened, and the gun inside of it popped out. He shot Susan with it, and she instantly fell over dead and stopped glowing. The Rani then deactivated Rory completely once again.

Clara punched the Rani in the face as she screamed, "I didn't want you to kill her!"

"It was the only way to free her. Her pain is over with now," the Rani said in tears.

Clara ran to kneel down by her daughter's side and began to break down. She had never even known her or gotten to say a single word to her, but it still hurt just as badly as if she had. She could see that Susan looked just like the Doctor and herself. She could see both of their features combined in her face, and it sent a wave of grief rolling through her.

Clara began screaming in agony, and the Doctor and the Master both stopped to watch her. Even their eternal feud had to take second place to a mother's grief. Clara then stopped screaming and turned eyes filled with anger on the Master.

"You did this!" Clara shouted as she ran towards him with her face twisted with rage.

"You can still save her," the Master said in a desperate attempt to save his own skin.

"How?" Clara asked in desperation as she looked from the Doctor to the Master for more information.

"You can give her your lives. You'll have to give up your entire life cycle in order to revive her," the Doctor said.

"Done. How do I do it?" Clara asked.

"Clara, it's going to take a while to explain that to you. That's one of the reasons that we went to the Academy. By the time that I explain it to you, it will be too late to revive her," the Doctor said.

"How about you? Can you do it?" Clara asked.

"I only have two lives left. That's not enough," the Doctor said sadly.

"What about you? I bet you have enough, don't you?" Clara asked the Master with an intent look on her face.

"I'll do it," the Rani said.

"You're a fool, Ushas. You'll use up all of your lives to save what amounts to an artificial being. She's not even a real Time Lord," the Master said.

"I created her and I'm responsible for killing her. That makes it my responsibility to do anything that I can to bring her back to life even if I have to sacrifice my own lives in order to do so," the Rani said as she moved toward the unmoving body of the dead girl.

"No, don't. Ushas, the process will leave you very weak. You might die," Koschei pleaded.

"Good. Then I can't hurt anyone else. At least I'll have done one good thing with my life at the end anyway," the Rani said.

"Ushas, you don't have to do this," the Doctor said.

Even Clara was hesitant now as she said, "He's right. I want her back, but not at the cost of your life. There's good in you. I can see that. You don't deserve to die."

"This innocent girl is worth a million of me. No one will miss me I assure you. Tell her to make the most of her life and to never, ever compromise what she believes in in any way. That's what happened to me, and I don't recommend it," the Rani said.

The Rani began to glow with regenerative energy as she kneeled down in front of Susan. "No!" the Master shouted.

The Rani was shocked when the Master suddenly shoved her aside and placed his own hands on her body instead. He glowed with energy as he poured his entire life cycle into Susan at once.

Susan gasped as she came back to life but stayed asleep as the Master fell over onto the ground instantly. The Rani used the Doctor's sonic to check him and surprised herself as she sighed in relief when she realized that he was going to make it. She didn't even realize that she cared.

"Why did you do that?" the Rani asked him.

"I couldn't let you die. You're the one person who I could never hurt," the Master said as he smiled a weak smile at her.

She returned his smile as she said, "Who would have ever known that you had a conscience?"

"Only where you're concerned, my dear," the Master said as he began to rapidly fall unconscious.

The Rani kissed him just before he passed out, and he went to sleep with a smile on his face.

"He gave up all of his lives for me," the Rani said touched.

"He's dying anyway. His body is still burning up his life energy due to the way that he was brought back to life. Even regeneration couldn't have fixed it," the Doctor said.

"It's more than that, Doctor. I think that he actually loves her," Clara said with a smile.

"I'm not sure if he's capable of love. Not anymore. He did save my life though not too long ago when he could have let me die," the Doctor said.

"He's very complicated, isn't he? One minute he's trying to kill you, and the next he's sacrificing himself for you. You never know what he's going to do next. He's completely unpredictable," the Rani said.

"The drums in his head drove him insane. You can thank Rassilon for that. Who knows what he might have been if not for him," the Doctor said sadly.

"Rassilon almost destroyed me as well. That ends now though. I'm going to change, Doctor. I swear that to you. I'm not going to be that person who you used to know anymore. From now on, I want to help people just like you do. Starting with the Master," the Rani said.

"He can't be trusted. You said yourself that he's unpredictable," the Doctor said.

"Yes, and I was right. I'm going to use the Arch on him again. As a human, his body was stabilized, and he wasn't dying. That's the only way that he can live now. Yana wasn't so bad really. I think that I just might wind up liking him. Maybe I can find a way to heal his mind and his body, and then someday he can be himself again without being a menace to the universe. This time, I won't hide his watch in a freezer," the Rani said.

"You had his watch in a freezer? Seriously?" Clara asked him in disbelief.

"I'm sorry. I never thought that he'd look there. I had it way in the back hidden behind the fish fingers," the Doctor said.

Clara smiled at him as she said, "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

"I have a thought," the Doctor said as he smiled at her.

"I like the way you think," Clara said as she gave him a tender kiss.

The Rani smiled at both of them, and then smiled even wider as Susan woke up. The young Time Lady looked at her parents kissing in confusion as she said, "I'm alive?"

"Susan?" Clara said as she suddenly pulled away from the Doctor and ran to her side.

"Hello," Susan said as she smiled at her.

"Susan, I'm your mum," Clara said as she smiled back.

"I know. Are you okay with this? I know that I wasn't exactly planned," Susan asked.

Clara hugged her tightly as she said, "I couldn't have asked for anyone better plus I didn't even have to get stretch marks."

"You don't even know me though. We only just met. How do you know that you want me?" Susan asked in confusion.

"Because when you died I was torn apart. No, I don't know you but what mother does when their child is born. All I know is that you're a part of me and I love you," Clara said as she hugged Susan again.

"I love you too, Susan," the Doctor said as he joined Clara in hugging their daughter.

"I love the two of you too," Susan said as she hugged them back.

"Please take me to the Arch again and spare me this sickening display," the Master said without opening his eyes.

"You're awake?" the Rani asked in surprise.

"Yes, I'm so weak that I can barely function but I'm still awake. I heard what you said, Ushas. Just do it. It's the only way to save my life and maybe just maybe you can stop the drums while you're at it. That would be worth any cost," the Master said.

"I'm sorry. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, but then I have a lot to be sorry about, don't I?" the Rani said.

"I think you can do it, Ushas. I believe in you," the Master said as he started to fall asleep again.

The Rani smiled at him and kissed him again as she picked him up and put him over her shoulder. She then carried him toward the Chameleon Arch as she prepared to give him a new start at life.

"Hey, what's going on here? Doctor, why are you and Clara over there hugging that strange girl while Jenny and I are tied up and Rory is slumped over? Come on! I can use a little help here!" Amy complained as she finally woke up at last.

Jenny woke up with a horrified look on her face as she saw her dad hugging some strange new girl. She immediately felt as if she had been replaced. She hoped that it wasn't true, but she had a sickening feeling that it was.

Amy immediately noticed Jenny's reaction as she said, "It's alright, Jenny. I know that whatever's going on that your dad still loves you."

Clara heard this and looked at the scared look on Jenny's face. She walked over to her and untied first her and then Amy as she said to Jenny, "Your dad loves you, Jenny. He always will. Even your new sister isn't going to change that."

"Sister?! Doctor, how long was I out?!" Amy asked in shock.

"Stop overreacting, Pond. The Rani created her and accelerated her growth. She's my and Clara's daughter. Rory's going to be alright by the way. The Rani told me that he's due to come back online in a few minutes. She just knocked him out for a little while," the Doctor said as he put his arm around Susan proudly.

"So we're trusting the Rani now, are we? Apparently a lot must have happened while I was unconscious," Amy said in a tone that clearly said that she was not convinced that the Rani could ever be believed about anything.

Jenny flinched at the sight of the attention being given to Susan, and Clara whispered, "He still loves you. It's okay."

Jenny didn't look convinced though, and Clara glared at the Doctor.

_Tell her that you still love her! _Clara shouted in his head.

She smiled as she realized that she had just joined the telepathic Time Lord club now too. It was a wonderful feeling.

The Doctor tried to smile at Jenny at the same time as he dealt with the splitting headache that Clara had just given him by screaming in his mind. He was definitely going to have to talk to her about lowering the volume on her mental voice later.

"Hey, Jen. Are you alright?" the Doctor asked Jenny as he hugged her.

Jenny began to relax now as she said, "I was just worried that you might not . . ."

"I'd never stop loving you, Jenny. Never. Don't ever worry about that. I want you to meet your new sister, Jen. This is Susan," the Doctor said.

Susan hesitantly walked up to Jenny and said, "Hello."

Jenny couldn't help but smile because Susan was obviously terrified. She was afraid of being rejected too Jenny realized. Jenny started laughing at how silly she had been acting and then pulled Susan into a tight embrace as she said, "Hello, little sister!"

Susan smiled as she wrapped her arms around her new sister. For the first time since she had been created, she finally felt like she belonged somewhere.

Jenny was content and at peace as well. Not too long ago she had no one in her life, and now she had a father and a sister. Now all she needed was a mother, and she could finally have a family of her own just like she had always dreamed of every night since she left Messaline.

There was something that she had to know first though.

"Dad, exactly how serious are you about your relationship with Clara?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor looked shocked and uneasy. He had been taken by surprise by this question and didn't know what to say. It was Clara who answered as she said, "We only just today told each other how we feel about one another, Jen. I'm not even sure if we're even dating or not. I certainly want to date him though. Why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to know if you're going to get married," Jenny said.

The Doctor answered this time as he said, "We have absolutely no way of knowing that at this point. I've only just this second been asked out on a date by her. I think we're going to have to wait a while before we know if we'll get married or not. A long while. I accept that date by the way."

The Doctor smiled at Clara, and she took his hand in hers as she kissed him.

"I want a mother," Jenny finally admitted.

The Doctor looked at her with sympathy as he said, "Clara could still be your mother even if we aren't married, Jenny."

Clara looked at Jenny in surprise as she said, "Me? I thought that surely it would be Amy that you would want as your mum."

"It is Amy," Jenny said.

Amy was completely taken aback by this as she said, "You want me to be your mum? I had absolutely no idea."

"Lately I've started to think of you as my mum, Amy. I know that I don't really have a mum, but I always wanted one. Could I think of you as my mum? Would that be alright? I'll understand if it's not," Jenny said.

Amy smiled at her as she said, "I'd be proud to have you as a daughter, Jenny. Is that okay with you, Doctor? What about you, Clara?"

"Of course it's okay. She couldn't ask for a better mother," the Doctor said.

"I'm fine with it too. I want you to know that you can always come to me too though if you ever need to talk to someone about anything, Jenny. You could think of me as your second mum if you want," Clara said.

"Thank you! Both of you," Jenny said to Amy and Clara.

"Now I can finally have a last name. I'm going to start calling myself Jenny Pond after you," Jenny said to Amy proudly.

Amy was touched by this, and she became choked up as she said, "I honestly had no idea that you felt that way about me."

"I did," Rory said as he finally came back to life.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked him in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. She didn't hurt me. She just kind of switched me off for a while. It didn't hurt. It's just like going to sleep," Rory said.

"If she ever does that to you again, I'll make sure that she goes to sleep for a while," Amy said in anger.

"Pond, she's truly sorry for what she's done. I think that she really does want to change now," the Doctor insisted.

"I believe her," Rory said.

"She's not Rayna anymore, Rory. She stopped being her when she opened that watch," Amy said.

"I think that part of her still is Rayna, Amy. Rayna had to come from somewhere," Rory argued.

"I still don't trust her," Amy said.

"Neither do I," Jenny agreed.

"She's already thinking like her," the Doctor said to Clara with a grin.

"Dad, what's my last name? Do I even have one?" Susan asked suddenly.

"Not really. I don't have a last name," the Doctor admitted.

"You don't even have a first name. The Doctor is just a title not a name," Amy said.

"I do have a first name, but I can only tell it to someone when I get married to them," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I know. River told me. That basically means that you have no first name though. What good is your having a real name if no one can ever know it?" Amy said.

"Well, it's lucky for me that I already know your name then," Clara said with a grin.

"No, you don't. You couldn't possibly know it," the Doctor said smugly.

Clara whispered a name in his ear and the Doctor's eyes widened as he said, "You shouldn't know that. There's no way that you could know it. How did you find out?"

"I found it in a book in the TARDIS library," Clara said.

"No. That can't be. I've never written my name down anywhere, and as far as I know no one else has either. What book is this? Describe it to me," the Doctor said.

Clara did so and the Doctor said, "That book isn't one of mine. I've never seen it before."

Then the Doctor had a sudden inspiration and pulled a letter out of his pocket. He showed it to Clara and asked, "Was it written like this?"

"Yes, that's the same handwriting," Clara said.

Amy looked at the letter and instantly knew who wrote it. "River wrote your name down and left it in the library. Why would she do that? She was always so careful about not telling anyone anything," Amy pondered.

"She must have wanted Clara to find it, but I can't understand why," the Doctor said.

"I won't tell anyone what it is. I get it that no one's supposed to know it," Clara promised.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

"That still doesn't answer my question, Mum. What is my last name?" Susan asked.

Clara became very emotional because this was the first time that Susan or anyone for that matter had ever called her mum. She tried not to cry as she said, "How about Oswald? How does Susan Oswald sound to you?"

"It sounds great. Thank you," Susan said as she embraced her mother.

"Why does no one want to take my name?" the Doctor said in dismay.

"Maybe that's because you don't have one to take? What are they going to call themselves exactly? Jenny and Susan Doctor? Or maybe Dr. Jenny and Dr. Susan?" Amy asked with a chuckle.

Clara burst out laughing as Jenny said with a grin, "Dr. Jenny. I like the sound of that. Dr. Jenny Pond."

"You can't call yourself that. It's not like it's hereditary. You never earned it like I did," the Doctor said.

"No one else will know that though. I think it sounds kind of cool. Dr. Jenny Pond, at your service. Hello, I'm Dr. Pond," Jenny said in amusement.

The Doctor sighed and threw up his hands in frustration. "You're acting more and more like a Pond all of the time," the Doctor said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked with a frown and a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, Amy. Absolutely nothing," the Doctor said nervously.

"Good answer," Clara whispered to him with a smile as she gave him a quick kiss.

Rory saw the Rani watching all of this with a soft smile on her face from several feet away. He knew that she felt as if she didn't belong here, and this made him immediately want to convince her otherwise.

"You really do believe that the girl that you knew is still in there, don't you?" Amy asked as she saw him looking at her.

"Yes, I'm sure of it, Amy. She could have killed all of us while we were unconscious, but she didn't. She's still Rayna in some way. I know it," Rory said firmly.

Amy smiled at him and how he never wanted to give up on people. That was one of the things that she loved about him.

"Go on. Talk to her," Amy encouraged him.

Rory walked over to the Rani and said, "You know you can join in on the conversation if you want to. You're among friends here."

"Not really. I haven't had any friends in a long time," the Rani said sadly.

"You have me," Rory said.

She smiled at him as she said, "Thank you. I really appreciate that especially after what I did."

"Where's the Master or is he Yana again now?" Rory asked.

"He's Yana again, and he's doing fine. He's finally stopped dying now that he's in human form. The ritual that brought him back to life was evidently enough to bring a human body back to life despite it being interrupted. It being stopped before it was finished means that Koschei can't stay a Time Lord though. It seems that he's trapped as Yana for the moment. If he ever switched back as he is now, he would probably die soon afterward," the Rani said.

"I have to admit that I definitely prefer Yana better. I always like people much more when they're not trying to kill me," Rory said.

"He wasn't always that way. Neither was I. I'd like to be that person that I used to be again. I'm going to try to be anyway. I'm so sorry, Rory," the Rani said as she hugged him.

"It's okay. I forgive you," Rory said.

"Thank you," the Rani said gratefully.

"Why don't you come and join us? I'm sure that the others won't mind. I know that the Doctor has already forgiven you too," Rory said.

"I know he has. He always did. Alright, I'll join in. I may not say much, but I'll at least be there anyway," the Rani said.

Rory started back towards the others before he suddenly stopped and asked, "What do I call you now anyway?"

"You can always call me Rayna," the Rani said with a smile.

Rory smiled back at her as he said, "It's so nice to see you again, Rayna. I missed you."

The two of them embraced then as the Rani said, "I missed her too. I haven't seen her in a very long time. Thank you for helping to bring her back to me."

"I think that she was always there. You just forgot about her for a while," Rory said.

The Rani smiled and nodded in agreement. Now that she had finally found herself once more she was determined that she would never forget who she was ever again.

She owed her new friend that much at least. After all, he had saved her life recently and in more ways than one.

**Next: The Doctor comes across yet another familiar face from his past. Who will it be? I'll give you a hint. She used to run around with the Doctor when he had a tin dog and a long multi-colored scarf. Also the Great Intelligence rears his ugly head once again. What's he up to this time? **


	7. The Invisible Enemy

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE INVISIBLE ENEMY

**Gallifrey at the end of the Time War.**

Romana and her loyal bodyguard, Leela, were in the fight for their lives as they faced off against a horde of guards led by Commander Maxil. Maxil was doing his best to get through them to see the Time Lord President, Rassilon, but they weren't about to let that happen.

"Resistance is useless, Lady Romana. We will soon kill both of you and expose the Doctor's treachery no matter how hard you fight to prevent it. I will warn President Rassilon of the Doctor's plan to use the Moment, and neither of you are going to stop me," Maxil said.

"You're absolutely right, Commander. We won't. K-9, fire!" Romana ordered.

K-9 suddenly appeared behind Maxil and his guards and stunned them. They all fell to the ground unconscious instantly.

"Good work, K-9," Romana said with a smile.

"Mistress," K-9 said as he wagged his mechanical tail happily.

"How could Maxil have found out the Doctor's plan? No one else knows about it but the two of us," Leela asked Romana.

"Wrong," a beautiful brunette woman who the two of them didn't recognize said to them as she suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"What do you mean by that and who are you?" Leela said as she instantly assumed a fighting stance with her knife drawn and ready for battle.

"Whoa! Hold on there a minute, Jungle Jane. I'm a friend of the Doctor's too just like you two are. I'm here to help him. Believe me when I say that I don't want Rassilon to find out about the Moment any more than you do. He isn't supposed to know about it. Not yet anyway," the woman said.

"So the Doctor sent you?" Romana asked in a tone that said that she was clearly not sure whether to trust this new arrival yet or not.

"No, he doesn't know that I'm here. I came to help him when I found out that Maxil knew about what he was planning. We're still not out of danger yet though. The person who told Maxil about this is still on the loose, and we need to stop them from getting to Rassilon too," the woman said.

"No, I don't listen to anything else that you say until you give me a name. Who are you?" Romana demanded.

"I'm no one important. Just a loyal friend of the Doctor's doing her best to help him. If you have to call me something though, how about calling me Miss Impossible? Yeah, I like that. Call me Miss Impossible. The Doctor would say that was cool," the impossible woman said with a mad grin on her face.

"You must know the Doctor. You have the same weird sense of humor that he does," Romana said with a laugh as she relaxed her guard around her.

"Romana, the person who told Maxil about the Moment is a fellow Time Lord who's been possessed by the Great Intelligence. The Intelligence is attempting to alter history by letting Rassilon know about the plan to use the Moment while he still has time to stop the Doctor from getting it. We can't let him do that," the impossible woman said.

"The Great Intelligence? Yes, I remember that the Doctor told me about him once. He doesn't have a body of his own though. Who or what is he inhabiting?" Romana asked.

"He was possessing one of Maxil's guards, but since they're all unconscious now I'd assume that he's jumped into someone else. Someone very close to you I'd imagine," the impossible woman said as she looked at Leela who still had her knife pointed at her.

Leela started to laugh as she suddenly started speaking in the Great Intelligence's voice. "Very good, Miss Oswald, or whatever your name is in this life. I will warn Rassilon though, and there's nothing that you can do about it. You two are no match for this body. Leela here is a warrior of the Sevateem after all and has been trained to kill her entire life. I think that I'll easily finish both of you off using her before either of you can even lay a finger on me," the Intelligence said.

"Don't be so sure about that. I've lived for so long now and had so many different lives that I'm bound to have picked up a trick or two somewhere," Time Lady Clara said with a grin.

"We shall see," the Intelligence said as he used Leela to attack Clara first.

That was a mistake.

Clara effortlessly dodged Leela's attack and then grabbed her arm and flipped her over her shoulder. As soon as Leela hit the ground, Clara had her hand over a pressure point on Leela's shoulder that completely paralyzed even the mighty Sevateem warrior as long as Clara kept applying pressure there.

"That's a little bit of Venusian Aikido that I picked up from studying with K'anpo Rimpoche. He says hi by the way. I take it that the two of you have crossed paths sometime before," Clara said with a mad grin.

"It doesn't matter what you do, Clara. I can always find a new form," the Intelligence said with an evil smile.

Suddenly Leela went limp, and Clara had a sudden sinking feeling in both of her hearts as she heard Romana laughing behind her. She quickly twisted her head around to see her fears confirmed by the look on Romana's face. The Intelligence had taken her over now.

"K-9, stun her!" the possessed Romana ordered.

"Affirmative, Mistress," K-9 said as he began firing his stun beam at Clara.

Clara flipped and somersaulted through a series of multiple blasts as K-9 did his best to hit her. His best wasn't quite good enough though.

"You're going to have to try a little bit harder than that I'm afraid. Oswin picked up a few acrobatic pointers from someone called Jenny. She was a very nice girl. We stopped some Sontarans together once. I mean Oswin did anyway," Clara said.

"Your endless cycle of lives all end here and now. This plan is my masterstroke. I will undo the Doctor's entire life's work in a single moment by allowing Rassilon to destroy all of time and space," the Intelligence bragged.

"No, your life's work ends here," a voice said behind Clara.

"You! You cannot be here! You cannot interfere!" the Intelligence said as he suddenly sounded very frightened.

Clara turned to see a blonde woman standing there with a huge smile covering her entire face. She seemed to be enjoying the Intelligence's fear immensely.

"You can though it seems. Well, that's certainly fair, isn't it? I interfere whenever and wherever I like. Who do you think has been working against you from the start or did you really think that Clara just always happened to be wherever you were at exactly the right time to stop you by sheer coincidence?" the blonde said.

"I always wondered about that actually. It seems like I always get to the scene just as he appears every time somehow. Are you saying that you're helping me?" Clara said.

"Yes, Clara. I've been helping you all of your life. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even have a life," the blonde said.

"The leaf! You saved my dad's life?!" Clara asked in an awed voice.

"I foresaw that the Intelligence would attempt to destroy the Doctor one day, and I knew that I needed someone to fight him. I chose you," the blonde said.

"Let me wrap my head around this. You're saying that you saved my father's life so that I could be born because you needed me to save the Doctor? That means that I've been your pawn my entire life?" Clara asked in a shocked and angry voice.

"No! I never would have forced you to do anything. I helped create you and led you in the right direction, but I never made you do anything. You always chose to help the Doctor of your own free will because you're a very giving and compassionate person. If you had ever said no though then I would have been up the creek without a paddle and so would the Doctor," the blonde said with a smile.

"You led me in the right direction? Oh, my God! You're the girl that gave me the Doctor's phone number! That's how we met in the first place," Clara realized in amazement.

"And you accuse me of interfering?! You helped to create an entire life that never existed before just to stop me. You're just as bad as the Doctor," the Intelligence accused the blonde.

"Thank you very much," the blonde said with that huge grin on her face again.

"Who are you?" Clara asked her.

"I'm the Doctor's friend too. I want to help him just like you do. I saw in the future that he would be in danger, and I wouldn't be there to stop it. That's why I trusted you with the task of keeping my Doctor safe,' the blonde said.

"Your Doctor? You can see the future?" Clara asked.

"You're full of questions you are. I suppose I can't really call him mine since we've never even kissed yet, but I think of him that way in my heart. Yes, I can see the future. I can see the past, the present, and every possible future all at once. I know what's most likely to happen at any given moment. Right here and now though, time is up for all of you I'm afraid," the blonde said.

"He's just about to use the Moment, isn't he?" Clara asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," the blonde said in a compassionate voice.

"No! It can't be too late. It can't be," the Intelligence protested.

"It is. I knew that if I showed up in person that it would keep you distracted just long enough to prevent you from doing anything," the blonde said.

"I'm not giving up. I will survive and I will have my revenge yet. If not this way, then in another one," the Intelligence said as he ran to where he knew Romana's TARDIS would be.

"Mistress, take me with you," K-9 said as he followed her.

"So history's safe now?" Clara asked the blonde.

"Yes, at least this moment of it is. He'll be back in the future though," the blonde replied.

"That'll have to be someone else's problem, won't it? Maybe another Clara's? Will it be over with quickly?" Clara asked in a frightened voice.

"It'll be okay. You won't feel a thing. I promise. I'm so sorry," the blonde said in a gentle voice as she embraced her.

Clara started to cry as the blonde held her. Then the blonde disappeared just before everything went black.

Despite the Great Intelligence's best efforts, Gallifrey exploded and the Time Lords were no more.

**The TARDIS, the Present Day **

Clara Oswald woke up in her bed on the TARDIS screaming. Somehow the Doctor was there comforting her in moments.

"Clara, what's wrong? What happened?" the Doctor asked in alarm.

"I had a nightmare. It was a memory really. It had to do with one of my lives. I was reliving when the Time Lady echo of me died as Gallifrey was destroyed," Clara said.

"I didn't know that you were there. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the Doctor said to her as he was suddenly wracked by guilt as he realized for the first time what he had done to her.

He had killed Clara. She hadn't been his Clara, but she had been a part of her. He had killed a part of a person who he loved. It made him feel like a monster to even try contemplating it.

"Hey! I don't blame you for that and neither did she. She understood, Doctor, and so do I," Clara said as she embraced him and kissed him.

"I'm responsible for killing you," the Doctor said in a sickened voice.

"No, you're not. I'm okay. I'm with you right here and now. Yes, I had a bad dream about my past, but it doesn't matter now. I do wish that I knew who that woman was though and if what she told me about myself was true or not. I still wonder about that," Clara said.

"What woman? Tell me about her," the Doctor said suddenly intrigued.

Clara told him the whole story, and the Doctor suddenly became excited as he said, "Describe her to me."

"She was blonde, very pretty, and her tongue would stick out between her teeth when she smiled. She was also very compassionate. She stayed with me, I mean her, until the very end almost. She did her best to comfort her," Clara said.

"Did she say who she was? Did she give you any kind of name at all?" the Doctor asked as he started to become almost frantic.

"You know her, don't you? She said she was a friend of yours. She never gave me a name, but now that I think of it she did say something to me at the end that I thought was very strange. Maybe you can make some sense of it. She said that the Great Intelligence wasn't finished and that he would return someday. She said that I should warn you about it and that I would know when the time had come to tell you. I asked her what to do if you didn't believe what I said, and she told me that you would believe that whatever I said was true if I told you two words," Clara said.

The Doctor's hearts both skipped a beat as he asked, "What two words?"

"Bad Wolf," Clara said.

"Rose," the Doctor said in a tone that was almost one of reverence.

"That was Rose? The one that you told me about?" Clara asked as she began to become very uneasy.

"Yes, but she's gone now. She found herself a new life with the other me in another universe. She's happy now. At least I hope so," the Doctor said.

"You still think about her though, don't you?" Clara asked feeling like she was already being replaced.

The Doctor kissed Clara passionately as he said, "I will always care about Rose, but she has her own life now just like I do. I love you, Clara. You and you alone."

Clara smiled in relief as she said, "Right answer, Chin Boy."

They continued to kiss for several minutes until Amy suddenly said through the door, "Doctor, I know that you're in there. I'm sorry to bother you, but I thought that you might want to know that there's someone trying to contact you who says that she's a Time Lord. Her name is Romana."

The Doctor and Clara both stiffened in shock and fear as Clara said, "Could she still be possessed by the Intelligence?"

"It's possible. Maybe that's why Rose wanted you to warn me. Maybe Romana is still his pawn, and she's come here to destroy me while pretending to still be my friend," the Doctor speculated.

"We'll have to keep an eye on her if we do meet up with her. Maybe we shouldn't. We could just ignore her. I mean surely it can't be a coincidence her showing up right after I have that dream, could it?" Clara asked.

"If this is another Master, then you can just ignore that message and stay away from her. I don't want to deal with another one of your fruitcake enemies coming back and trying to kill me!" Amy shouted at him through the door.

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" the Doctor called out to her.

"Says the man who invades my thoughts at all times," Amy shot back.

"If you'd learn how to use your mental shields, then it wouldn't be a problem, would it?" the Doctor said.

"I shouldn't have to use them around my best friend. You should have more respect for me than that," Amy said.

"Oh, for goodness sake! If you're going to be yelling at each other it may as well be with the door open," Clara said as she opened the door and let Amy in.

"You're not calling her, Doctor. I'm your partner now and I say no," Amy said firmly.

"I second that. I think that we should just leave her be, Doctor. Don't you?" Clara said as she gave him a seductive look and kissed him with as much passion as she could.

Amy smiled in amusement at Clara's attempt to control the Doctor. She could see the look of momentary confusion on his face as he said, "Yes, you're right. I . . . No, wait a minute! Stop that! I can't think clearly when you do that!"

"I know," Clara said as she kissed him the same way again.

"Clara, stop! Don't do that!" the Doctor protested when she pulled away from him again.

"Don't you like it?" Clara asked in an innocent voice.

"Yes, I do. Too much. I can't concentrate when you do that. It's not fair. I just want to see if it's really Romana and if she's okay or not. Don't try to manipulate me into abandoning my friend," the Doctor pleaded.

Clara's eyes softened as she said, "I'm sorry. I just don't want Romana to hurt you. She could still be his pawn, you know?"

"You give in too easily, Clara. You're too soft," Amy said.

"I don't want to control him," Clara protested.

"Oh, you're so naïve, Clara. I see that I'm going to have to teach you Amy Pond's secrets on how to make your man do whatever you want him to and like it. I have to warn you ahead of time though that it involves inflicting pain. There will be some slapping and some punching. You might not like that part, but it really does work," Amy joked.

The Doctor looked at Clara in such absolute terror that Clara immediately smiled at him and gave him a peck on the lips as she said, "Don't worry. I'm not listening to her."

The Doctor sighed in relief and kissed Clara back gratefully.

"You don't deserve my help," Amy said with a pretend frown.

Then she suddenly became serious as she said, "Doctor, are you sure about this? If Clara's right, we could all be in great danger from this person. It's not just the three of us at risk here either. It's your daughters and my husband too. We shouldn't be taking risks with the lives of our families like that."

The Doctor noticed that she didn't mention the Rani or the Master and took that as the indictment against their continued presence here that it was. He knew that Amy was at least warming up to the Rani, but she still didn't quite trust her just yet even despite Rory's absolute faith in her.

"Alright, we won't respond to her," the Doctor said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I know that you're worried about your friend, but I'm worried about all of us more," Amy said.

"I'll just land us somewhere. Maybe we'll lose her signal if we're out of the Vortex," the Doctor said as he left Clara's room with heavy hearts.

"Why do I feel like I just kicked a puppy?" Clara asked Amy.

"It had to be done. You'll see one day. You have to be firm with him and let him know that you're in charge," Amy said.

"I can see already that we're two totally different people especially when it comes to how we interact with others," Clara said.

"Don't worry. You'll be just like me before you know it, Clara," Amy said happily.

"I can hardly wait," Clara said.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS inside of Amy and Rory's house in Leadworth. As soon as he did so, Romana's signal suddenly stopped. The Doctor sighed and looked at the console sadly. He hoped that Romana was alright wherever she was.

Then he was shocked to hear knocking on the door of the TARDIS. He looked on the monitor to see Romana outside standing by her own TARDIS which she had landed right beside his.

"You always did find a way to impress me, Romana," the Doctor said with a grin.

He immediately started toward the door to open it and then hesitated. What should he do?

"Let her in, Doctor," Clara said behind him.

He turned around and smiled at her appreciatively as he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Let her in," Clara said as she smiled encouragingly at him.

The Doctor opened the door, and Romana and K-9 immediately came in. Romana immediately hugged the Doctor with a huge smile on her face as she said, "I'm so glad that I finally found another Time Lord. I'm especially glad that it was you."

She held onto the Doctor just a little bit too long for Clara's liking, and Clara cleared her throat loudly. The Doctor took the hint and said, "Romana, this is my . . . I was going to say girlfriend, but is that even right yet?"

"I'd say girlfriend is absolutely right. I'm definitely his girlfriend. Clara Oswald," Clara said firmly as she held out her hand to Romana.

"It's nice to meet you, Clara. I'm glad that the Doctor found someone. I used to worry if he ever would. He was always so lonely even when I was traveling with him. Look who I still have with me. You do remember K-9 of course, don't you, Doctor?" Romana asked as she shook Clara's hand.

"Of course I do! Hello, K-9!" the Doctor said happily.

"It's very good to see you again, Master!" K-9 said as he moved his ears and wagged his tail.

Clara smiled as the Doctor started talking to K-9 like a little boy would to his dog. It never ceased to amaze her how he could be so young and so old at the same time. She idly wondered if that was what would happen to her someday.

"I'm sorry but do I know you? I could swear that I've seen you somewhere before," Romana asked Clara.

"I don't think so. I've never seen you before in my life," Clara said as she both told the truth and lied at the same time.

"You just remind me of someone that I met once briefly on the worst day of my life. The day that Gallifrey died and I was taken over by the Great Intelligence," Romana said.

The Doctor looked at her in alarm as she quickly said, "Don't worry, Doctor. I'm not under his control anymore. I haven't been in a long time. He only used me to leave Gallifrey just before you used the Moment so that he could escape after failing to warn Rassilon about your plan. Then as soon as he was safe, he left me. I felt at once guilty and happy that I had survived when everyone else was gone. I thought that I was all alone so I went to E-Space right away and decided to stay there for a few years. I eventually grew homesick though, and I came back to this dimension to find that Daleks, Cybermen, and other old enemies of yours were still being defeated by some mysterious unknown person and the Earth was still being defended from alien invasions on a regular basis. I knew at once that you were still alive, and I've tried to find you ever since. The closest I ever got until now was when I came across a man in a trenchcoat who kept flirting with me relentlessly. He said that he was a friend of yours and kept encouraging me to find you. He said his name was . . ."

"Captain Jack Harkness. So you've met Jack. He's not so bad once you get past the flirting really," the Doctor said.

"When does it stop? When he gets to know someone better?" Romana asked.

"It never stops. You just have to get past it. That's just his way of saying hello," the Doctor said with a huge smile.

Romana laughed at him as she said, "I've really missed you, Doctor. I always meet the most interesting people when I'm around you."

Clara could see the Doctor relax immediately, and she knew that he believed Romana's story. Clara still wasn't so sure though. She was going to keep an eye on Romana and make sure that she really was as innocent as she seemed. When it came to the Great Intelligence, she had long ago learned to be wary of his next attack as it could come at any moment and from any direction.

The Great Intelligence was closer than either the Doctor, Clara, or Romana knew. Despite what Romana believed, he had never left her side once in all of the time since Gallifrey had exploded. He had stayed with her all of this time just waiting for her to eventually find the Doctor again because he knew that she would.

He also knew that Clara would automatically be suspicious of her. Therefore he had left Romana her freedom and decided to hide somewhere else where he would still be guaranteed complete and total access to the Doctor as soon as she found him and never even be suspected.

As the Doctor talked to K-9 happily, he had no idea that he was actually talking to the Great Intelligence! Soon, through K-9, the Intelligence would finally have the vengeance that he had sought for so long.

**Next: The Great Intelligence makes his first move as he puts his plan to destroy the Doctor into action. Will anyone figure out K-9's secret in time? **


	8. Pawns of the Great intelligence

CHAPTER 8

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

PAWNS OF THE GREAT INTELLIGENCE

The TARDIS landed outside of Clara's house because she had to go back to her job. She could have traveled with the Doctor for much longer until she had to come back since the TARDIS was a time machine after all, but she had decided just to get it over with and go now.

As soon as she stepped out of the TARDIS though, she was already regretting it. She really wasn't sure about leaving the Doctor alone with Romana. She still didn't trust her, and it wasn't just because she might still be possessed by the Great Intelligence either.

She was worried that maybe Romana and the Doctor had once been more than friends and was afraid to leave her with him for too long. The Doctor had sensed her worry and had assured her that he loved her and only her, but it still didn't make her feel any better. She tried just telling herself that she was being foolish and wanted to make herself believe that, but so far it hadn't worked.

The Doctor must have been reading her mind despite his earlier promise not to because he said, "Stop worrying, Clara. Everything's alright."

"I never stop worrying about you, Doctor. I don't think that I ever will. I've been taking care of you all of your lives after all, and that's a tough habit to break," Clara said.

The Doctor suddenly looked very sad at her words which immediately prompted Clara to say, "What is it? I didn't mean to make you upset by saying that. I'm proud of that. I wanted to do it or I never would have jumped into your timestream."

"It's just that I think about you dying over and over again. I know that that had to affect you. Where you ever frightened?" the Doctor asked.

"You're thinking about the time when I died as Miss Montague, aren't you? No, I wasn't afraid. I knew that I would be reborn again. I only regretted leaving you. I wanted to stay with you, and it made me upset that I couldn't. I know that you won't believe this, but it hasn't affected me. I know it should have, but it hasn't. It's just like it all happened to someone else most of the time," Clara said.

"What about the dreams?" the Doctor asked.

"They don't happen often, Doctor, I promise. I'm okay," Clara said with a warm smile.

Then she kissed the Doctor just to take that sad look off of his face. Then the kiss deepened, and she found herself unable to stop. The two of them continued kissing for several minutes until they heard a voice say, "I thought that you said that he wasn't your boyfriend?"

They both instantly recognized Angie Maitland's voice, and they reluctantly separated to face her together with embarrassed looks on their faces. Angie and Artie were both standing there watching them with huge smiles of amusement on their faces.

"He wasn't my boyfriend then, but he is now. It seems that the two of you saw us as a couple even before I did. It just shows how smart that you are," Clara said as she smiled at both of them.

"Congratulations, Clara. I'm so happy for you," Artie said as he hugged her.

"Thank you, Artie. I appreciate that," Clara said.

Then she began to see his timeline without meaning to. She could see what was going to happen to him tomorrow and the next day and the day after that stretching forward into his adulthood. Her eyes opened in shock, and she held him close to her protectively. She could see every bad thing that was going to happen to him in the next couple of years and wanted to protect him from them all.

_Clara, you have to snap out of it. They're getting suspicious of you. I should have told you about this. It's something that you're going to have to learn to deal with from now on. You're going to be able to see the past, present, and future of people who you meet from now on. I'll have to teach you how to turn it on and off so that it doesn't pop up when you don't want it to like now._ The Doctor said in Clara's mind.

_I'll be alright. I hope. I'd love to be able to turn it off though. I'm afraid to even look at Angie now._ Clara replied.

_It's going to be okay. Just concentrate on the present day if it happens again. Try to ignore everything else that you see until I can train you. I'll have to do that for Amy and Susan too come to think of it although Susan may know how her abilities work instinctively since she was created with them from the start. Jenny seems to._ The Doctor answered.

Clara nodded at him as she said, "Well, good bye, Doctor. I'll see you later."

She started to kiss him but was self-conscious of doing it with the kids around so she settled for hugging him instead. He smiled at her, and she knew that he understood. Then he entered the TARDIS and was about to leave in it when Susan came out. The Doctor immediately followed her with worry on his features as he had absolutely no idea what she was up to.

"Who are you? I thought that Clara and the Doctor traveled alone," Angie asked.

"I'm Clara's cousin, Susan Oswald. I've started traveling with them too lately. It's so nice to meet both of you. Clara's told me a lot about you," Susan said smiling at them.

"Susan, what are you doing? I thought that you were going to travel with the Doctor," Clara said in a worried voice.

"I just wanted to spend some time with you, Clara. I wanted to get to meet the kids and see what your everyday life is like. Is that alright?" Susan asked with pleading eyes.

Clara's heart, she still couldn't think of herself as having more than one, melted instantly as she realized that her daughter wanted to be a part of her life and to see what she did every day. She couldn't deny her that. She couldn't deny her anything when she looked at her like that.

"Alright. If that's what you want, I don't see why not," Clara said happily.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," Susan said as she hugged her.

"Are you sure, Clara?" the Doctor asked warily.

"Yes, I am. I'm completely sure," Clara said.

"Alright. I'll be back next Wednesday then like usual. Good bye, Susan," the Doctor said as he kissed her forehead and hugged her.

The Doctor suddenly found himself very sad to leave her. It was the first time that he had ever been apart from her since she had been created.

"I'll be alright," Susan whispered to him.

The Doctor nodded and then left. He knew that he had to get used to spending time without her sometime, but he had only just gotten her. He hadn't wanted to leave her this soon.

Jenny smiled as she said, "She'll be okay, Dad. She's with her mother. It's only natural that she wants to spend some time with her. Don't worry so much."

"I can't help it, Jenny. I've gotten so used to the universe taking things away from me for so long now that I can't help but wait for the other shoe to drop and to have them taken away from me again at any moment," the Doctor said.

"I hope not. I don't ever want you to lose anyone else that you love ever again, and you won't if I can help it," Jenny said.

The Doctor smiled at her as he said, "Thank you, Jenny."

The Great Intelligence hidden in the body of K-9, however, had other ideas. He was going to make absolutely certain that the Doctor not only lost everything and everyone that mattered to him but also his life as well. The Doctor didn't even realize how the Intelligence was using K-9 to slowly but surely reprogram the TARDIS' computers. He wouldn't notice it either. Not until it was far too late.

He was actually glad that Clara and Susan left. That gave him two less pairs of eyes to watch him not that anyone really was so far. No one ever suspected the tin dog of anything. Other than the Doctor and Romana, no one else on this ship even bothered to notice him. That's what made him the perfect vehicle for his revenge.

Even now they talked opened around him about anything and everything. They weren't even aware that he was really there to destroy them. They had absolutely no clue whatsoever.

"You really do love her, don't you?" Romana asked the Doctor after Jenny left and they were alone in the Console Room.

"Yes, more than I ever thought possible. I loved her from the start, but I never realized just how much until she almost died saving me. I know that you probably think that it's improper or something me falling for a Time Lady who used to be human until recently, but I don't care. She and I are perfect for one another, Romana. I haven't felt anything like this since . . ." the Doctor stopped himself from saying 'Rose.'

Romana smiled at him and kissed his cheek as she said, "I don't look down on her at all. At least I'm trying very hard not to. She seems very nice and sweet. She must also be very brave to do what she did. I have to admit that I do have a slight problem with a human calling themselves a Time Lord even if they are physically one, but that's my problem not hers or yours. I'm trying to overcome it because you care about her, and I like her."

"Is that all it is that bothers you about her, Romana?" the Doctor asked.

Romana hesitated for a moment, and then she took a deep breath before answering his question.

"I have to admit that I'm a little jealous too that she's the one who finally got you when I didn't. I know that we were never a couple, but I always had feelings for you that I never could admit to you before. Are you surprised?" Romana asked.

"No, not really. I had feelings for you as well, but I never followed up on them because I learned a long time ago that everyone leaves me sooner or later. I guess it turned me into someone incapable of expressing emotion. I'm only just now trying to get over that," the Doctor said.

"You don't have to worry, Doctor. I don't really feel that way about you anymore. I haven't for quite some time now. I do care about you, and I always will. That's as far as it goes now though. You can tell Clara that too if she's worried," Romana said.

"She was a little threatened by you actually," the Doctor admitted with a smile.

"I thought as much. You can tell her from me that there's no need to be from now on," Romana said firmly.

"Thank you, Romana," the Doctor said as he embraced her.

Romana smiled as she realized how good it was to be back traveling with the Doctor once again. There was nothing like it, and no one quite like him.

The Great Intelligence watched in gleeful anticipation as Romana left, and the Doctor turned his attention to rewiring bits of the TARDIS. Now that the Doctor wasn't watching, the Intelligence started to covertly start reprogramming the TARDIS once more. He was almost finished now. He just needed a little bit longer, and then the Doctor would finally be at his mercy.

Let the foolish old man continue to ignore him and play around with his wires if he wanted to. It didn't matter to him what he did as long as it distracted his attention away from him for just a few more minutes.

Amy was sleeping in late for once after spending all night just talking with Rory about anything and everything. Amy had missed him so much after being without him for so long that she didn't want to waste any more time with him now that she finally had him back again. She found that she didn't need to sleep that much now anyway since her transformation into a Time Lady.

Suddenly she was woken out of her sleep by a voice in her mind calling out to her in distress. It made her wonder if she were going mad as she listened to it.

_Wake up, orange haired girl! We're all in danger. Wake up!_ Amy heard a voice that sounded almost familiar to her shout in her mind over and over again.

"What is it? Did you have a bad dream?" Rory asked from where he lay beside her.

He didn't need to sleep anymore at all being an Auton. He had just been lying there watching her sleep. He had always thought that watching Amy sleep had been one of the most beautiful sights that he had ever seen. Even after all of this time, it still was.

"I don't know. It's like someone was yelling in my mind. They said that we were in danger. It may have just been a dream, but I have to make sure," Amy said as she got up to get dressed.

The two of them soon went outside to find the Rani and Professor Yana talking to one another. Professor Yana looked astonished as he said, "I simply can't believe that I used to be this Master person that you told me about. I wouldn't believe that I had so much evil inside of me."

"I prefer to think of you as the person that the Master would have been if not for the drums," the Rani said as she smiled at him.

Amy glared at the Rani as she said, "I can't believe that you told him that!"

"I don't want to lie to him. I want to have an honest relationship with him from now on," the Rani said.

"That's a nice sentiment but what if he winds up changing back now that you've told him. We could all end up having to fight Laughing Boy all over again. Unless that's what you want of course," Amy said in anger.

"Amy, don't," Rory said.

"Yeah, I know. You think that she's changed. I really hope that you're right, but I can't take that chance. I'm going to make sure that I never lose you again now that I've finally gotten you back. I don't think that I could take having to go through that again," Amy said in an emotional voice.

The Rani looked Amy straight in the eyes as she said, "I promise you that no harm will ever come to Rory through me. I would never do that."

Amy locked eyes with her for a moment and then she nodded. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt for now but if you ever do anything to hurt Rory or anyone else that I care about you'll wish that you were never born. Got it?" Amy threatened her.

"I promise you that I won't. I've changed. I'm not the same person that I was anymore. You don't have to worry about Yana either. He definitely isn't the same man anymore. He's more the good side of Koschei without the darkness that haunted him before. Besides, I've hidden the watch where no one will ever find it. Even if he did use it again, he wouldn't survive for long. His Time Lord body was close to death, and he knew that. That's why he volunteered to become Yana again rather than die," the Rani said.

"I still can't believe it. I definitely have no intention of ever becoming that man again. I want nothing to do with him," Yana said

Amy started to leave it at that and walk away. Then she stopped and turned around. Rory held his breath as he feared that she might start a fight all over again.

"Can TARDISes talk to Time Lords? Telepathically I mean?" Amy asked the Rani.

The Rani was taken by surprise by this sudden shift in tone, but she smiled as she realized that this was Amy trying to reach out to her. Amy was trying to trust her so she gave her the best answer that she could.

"No, they can't. They were never designed to speak. Not even telepathically. They can communicate through other means though such as through the holographic interface or by making certain noises through the console that you will eventually learn to interpret for yourself. Even the holographic interface doesn't have a real personality though. It's more the TARDIS computer's doing and is based on the personality of another person that it has replicated from its memory banks. It's a part of the TARDIS but not the TARDIS itself per se. Why do you ask?" the Rani replied.

"I was woken up by a voice in my head just now telling me that we were all in danger. The funny thing about it is that it sounded just like the TARDIS did when she took human form long ago," Amy said.

"You mean Idris?" Rory asked.

"Yes. She even called me orange haired girl just like Idris did," Amy said.

"It could have just been a dream based on a memory," the Rani suggested.

"Why would I dream about Idris though? I haven't thought about her in ages," Amy protested.

"Well, we'll all just check the ship out and make sure then, won't we?" the Rani said.

Amy smiled at her as she said, "Thank you. I know that I sound crazy, but I just have to be certain."

"Oh, I agree with you, Amy. Better safe than sorry. Besides I've always found that it's better to trust the instincts of humans than to ignore them. You're still human in mind if not in body," the Rani said.

"You talk like you've been close with a human before. Before me I mean," Rory said.

"I have in a way. There were a few humans that I learned to grudgingly respect over the centuries. I almost had a semi-relationship with some of them. Now I wish that I had allowed my relationships with them to grow. I might have found some friends that way," the Rani said in a melancholy voice.

"You have one now," Rory said with a warm smile.

"Thank you," the Rani said as she embraced him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Rory was taken completely by surprise by this, and Amy cleared her throat loudly while Yana looked extremely angry as if he were jealous. The Rani looked at Yana apologetically as she said, "I just think of him as a friend. It meant nothing more than that. I promise."

"Why are you telling me that for? It's none of my business," Yana said but he smiled nonetheless.

Amy was smiling too at the scared look on Rory's face. She could tell that Rory thought that she was going to start slapping him or worse at any minute now.

_You're not in trouble, Rory. Don't worry about it. I know that you don't have any feelings for her. I don't think that she does for you either. Not the romantic kind anyway. She does seem to care a lot about you though. I guess that means that I can trust her. I hope. _ Amy said in his mind.

"Let's go and see if we can find any problems with the ship then. I guess we should go to the Console Room first and check it out," Amy suggested.

As they reached the Console Room, Amy noticed right away that K-9 was plugged into the Console. She saw the Doctor working on rewiring a part of the TARDIS nearby and completely ignoring this.

"Doctor, what is the tin dog doing to the TARDIS?" Amy asked suspiciously.

"What? Oh, nothing. He's just communicating with it, one computer to another. He always did that back in the old days," the Doctor said dismissively without stopping what he was doing.

Amy walked past him as she drew closer to K-9. She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and started to scan the metal dog with it.

"Do you require something, Mistress?" K-9 asked.

"Not at the moment, no. I'm just doing a little scan of you and seeing what you've been up to for the last few hours," Amy said.

"Why would you do that, Mistress?" K-9 asked.

"No reason. I'm just curious that's all," Amy said as she continued to scan K-9 with her sonic.

"What is this about?" Romana asked in anger behind Amy.

"I'm just trying to make sure that your dog isn't doing anything to our ship," Amy said.

"Amy, it's K-9. He's harmless," the Doctor said.

"I resent you acting like K-9 is up to something. He's been my only companion for years," Romana said.

"Exactly. In all of that time, didn't you ever ask yourself one question, Romana? If the Intelligence isn't inside of you anymore, then where exactly did he go?" Amy said.

"Oh, no," Romana said as she realized exactly what Amy meant.

K-9 suddenly fired on Amy with a laser out of his nose as he said in the Intelligence's voice, "You're much smarter than I gave you credit for, Amelia Pond. It's almost a shame to have to destroy you."

"Well, it's a good thing that you won't then, isn't it?" Amy said with a smile as her sonic easily deflected K-9's attack back at him.

K-9 exploded as he was hit by his own blast, but was then instantly fixed as if by magic. The Intelligence laughed as he said, "Very good. You're most impressive. The Doctor always did surround himself with the best though. Still, it won't do you any good that you've found out my secret. You're already too late. This ship is mine now."

Amy could feel the TARDIS suddenly switch course through her new senses as a Time Lord as she said, "What did you do to the TARDIS?"

"He's reprogrammed it to only listen to him. Haven't you?" the Doctor asked with a furious look on his face.

"Of course I have, Doctor, and I did it all right under your nose. Now I've ordered it to change course. I'm finally going to destroy you and the rest of your kind forever, Doctor, by making the TARDIS head directly into the middle of a star. The TARDIS and everyone on it will be instantly destroyed while I escape to live another day. I'll finally have my revenge on you and destroy the last of the Time Lords all in one move. All except for Miss Oswald and your daughter of course but don't worry. I'll get to them too eventually," the Intelligence said as he laughed.

"Why wait? I'm already here right now," Clara said behind the Intelligence as she suddenly appeared behind him along with Susan, Leela, and yet another Clara.

"Clara, how on Earth did you get in here?" the Doctor asked.

"I hitched a ride with an old friend of mine who happened to be wearing a Vortex Manipulator. It seems that she and Leela didn't die with the others at the end after all," Clara said as she looked at the other Clara with a smile.

"You! This time I'll finish the job that I started on Gallifrey so long ago," the Intelligence said as he practically hissed at the other Clara.

"You can certainly try, GI, but somehow I don't think that you're going to be any more successful now than you were before especially not inside of that thing," the echo of Clara said with a chuckle.

"Do you truly think that the dog is the only vessel that I can employ against you? You have just made your last mistake, Echo. The last mistake that any of you will ever make," the Great Intelligence said with mocking laughter.

Suddenly Rory began to scream as he said, "Amy, run! He's trying to take me over! Run!"

Then Rory stiffened and the Great Intelligence gained full control over him as he said, "Now at last I can implement my full plan against you, Doctor. For you see, K-9 wasn't the only pawn that I had in your midst. Or did you really think that Rory suddenly being alive again was really River Song's doing?"

"No! No!" Amy screamed.

The Great Intelligence used Rory's Auton gun to start firing on the others even as he commanded K-9 to do the same with his nose gun. He continued to laugh as the others ducked for cover, and the TARDIS continued on a direct course straight into the nearest star.

"It's over, Doctor. I've won. I've finally won. This is the final end for you. There's no one to stop me this time. I will finally destroy you, your beloved Clara, and all of the remaining Time Lords forever. I will wipe you all off of the face of the universe at long last!" the Intelligence said in triumph.

**Next: It's the final showdown between the Great Intelligence and the Doctor as the Doctor fights him to the death for the lives of everyone that he cares about. Plus how were the other Clara and Leela saved anyway, and what will happen to Rory? **


	9. The Unthinkable Finally Happens

CHAPTER 9

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE UNTHINKABLE FINALLY HAPPENS

Rory and K-9, under the control of the Great Intelligence, continued to fire randomly all around the Console Room as the Doctor and the others hid behind the console in order to keep from being shot. The Intelligence continued to laugh as he knew that the TARDIS would enter the heart of the star that he had programmed it to head into in only a few more minutes. All he had to do was keep the others pinned down and away from the controls for that small amount of time, and he would finally succeed in destroying the Doctor forever.

"Not that it really matters since you're all about to die in a few minutes anyway, but I have to admit that I'm very curious. How did the two of you survive the destruction of Gallifrey?" the Intelligence asked Clara's echo and Leela.

"Well, it's a funny thing. One minute we were both sitting there waiting to die at any moment as the planet went up, and then everything went black. I thought that surely that was it, but the very next minute Leela and I found ourselves in the middle of Cardiff of all places. I still have no idea how we got there, but I can't help but wonder if we had some help from that blonde woman who said that she was a friend of the Doctor's. When I mentioned her to the man who took us in and gave me this handy Vortex Manipulator to get here with, he certainly seemed to know her. He wouldn't tell me her name no matter how much I asked. It was kind of sweet. I could tell that he was trying to protect her whoever she was. I definitely found out his name though, and I even got his phone number," Clara's echo said with a fond smile as she recalled meeting the handsome man in the World War II jacket.

"The Bad Wolf. She saved your lives so that you could be here to stop me again. Even now, she's still interfering with my revenge. It won't matter though. Even the four of you won't be enough to turn the tide in this battle. It's far too late to stop me now," the Intelligence said gleefully as he continued to open fire with Rory's hand gun.

"We have to do something. We can't just keep sitting here. That's what he wants us to do," Clara said in aggravation.

The echo of Clara nodded at her and said in a grim voice, "No, we can't, can we? If something happens to me, promise me that you'll take care of him, Clara."

"What are you going to do?" Clara asked in alarm.

"What we always do. Save the Doctor," the echo of Clara said as she suddenly rushed out from behind the console.

Leela then jumped out with her knife drawn and rushed after the echo. Both women charged toward Rory while the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at K-9 and said, "I'm so sorry about this, old friend."

K-9 began to short circuit and smoke as the Doctor overloaded his circuitry. The Intelligence wasn't phased in the least though. He continued to laugh as he said, "Go ahead and destroy the dog, Doctor. It doesn't matter to me. You're only delaying the inevitable. You have less than five minutes to reprogram the TARDIS before it's too late, and I still have complete control over both it and Rory. Good luck!"

"Who said anything about destroying him? As if I would ever do that to my best friend!" the Doctor said indignantly.

"Overloading of circuitry causing activation of regeneration program," K-9 said as he began to glow with energy, and his body restructured itself.

After K-9 finished glowing, he emerged from it with a completely different appearance. He looked much more like a dog than he had in his previous form and had long metal ears instead of the short ones that he had possessed before and actual flexible legs that he could now run on among other changes including increases in speed, strength, and the density of his outer shell.

"Regeneration has purged all traces of the Great Intelligence from my systems. I am now myself again. Ready for orders, Master," K-9 said.

"Good boy, K-9. I want you to reprogram the TARDIS to change course in less than five minutes. No pressure or anything though," the Doctor said.

"Affirmative, Master. Commencing reprogramming," K-9 said as he went behind the console to avoid being shot and started to interface with the TARDIS immediately.

"That's your big plan? To let the tin dog save you? Oh, how the mighty have fallen, Doctor!" the Intelligence said through Rory even as he fought with the other Clara and Leela.

"Of course that's not my whole plan. It is a pretty cool part of it though," the Doctor said with a grin.

Then the Doctor's expression suddenly became serious as he pointed his sonic at Rory and said, "Here's the next part of it."

Rory began to noticeably slow down, and Clara's echo actually managed to grab ahold of him and toss him across the room. Before he could even get up, Leela was on top of him in an instant and plunged her knife into his chest.

"No! Don't! He doesn't know what he's doing!" Amy screamed.

"You can't kill an Auton that way, Amy. He won't even feel anything," the Doctor reassured her.

Leela smiled as her knife went through Rory and pinned him to the floor of the TARDIS. The Intelligence roared in anger as he continued to lose more and more control over Rory. He couldn't even move his hands forward in order to take the knife out now.

"That weakness that you feel is me using the sonic to slowly shut Rory down without severely damaging him. Where are you going to go now, Intelligence, when I take all of your bodies away from you?" the Doctor said.

"Ironically enough into the body of an old enemy of yours," the Intelligence said through the body of Professor Yana. Yana suddenly attacked the Doctor and knocked the sonic out of his hand as he began wrestling with him behind the console.

"Part of him is really enjoying this, Doctor," the Intelligence said as he began punching the Doctor as hard as he could.

"Why am I not surprised?" the Doctor said as he struggled to stay conscious as the Intelligence delivered a major beating to him.

"Hey, GI! Why don't you get your own punching bag? That one's mine!" Amy said as she punched the Intelligence in the jaw.

The Intelligence screamed in anger as Clara took advantage of this momentary distraction to flip him over her shoulder. Before the Intelligence even had a chance to get up, Amy punched him in the face again and knocked him straight back down.

The two Time Ladies continued to pummel the Intelligence as they smiled at one another. "You know we should do this sort of thing more often," Amy suggested.

"Please don't look at me when you say that. I'm already in enough pain," the Doctor said as he groaned while picking himself up off of the floor.

"Less than a minute before the TARDIS enters the star, Master," K-9 said.

"How long before you can reprogram it, K-9?" the Doctor asked.

"Exactly one minute, Master. I will not succeed in time," K-9 said.

The Doctor hurried over to where K-9 was and said, "I'll just have to help then."

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to speed K-9's internal processing speed up to maximum levels, and K-9 said, "Thank you, Master. I can now reprogram the TARDIS in an acceptable amount of time. Unfortunately working at this processing rate will burn all of my systems out permanently not long afterward."

"I'll make sure that that doesn't happen, K-9. I promise," the Doctor said.

"The loss of this unit is acceptable as long as you and the Mistress are safe," K-9 said.

"Not to me it isn't, K-9," the Doctor said.

"TARDIS reprogramming complete, Master. Changing course away from the star now," K-9 said.

The Doctor quickly slowed K-9 down to a normal pace and then smiled in triumph. He was sure that he had finally won now as he listened to the Intelligence scream in the background.

Then he heard the screams turn to a bewildered yell as Yana suddenly said, "What are the two of you doing?! Get off of me!"

A cold feeling went all through the Doctor's body, and it only grew worse as he heard the sound of laughter coming behind him. He turned to see Romana pointing a staser at his back.

"Good bye, Doctor," the Intelligence said as he made Romana fire on him.

The echo of Clara quickly jumped in-between the Doctor and the blast though and immediately fell down dead as soon as it hit her. Before the Intelligence could fire again, Leela had already knocked the gun out of Romana's hand.

Leela then placed the point of her knife at Romana's throat as she said, "First, you are going to leave the body of my friend, and then you are going to leave this ship permanently. If you try jumping into the body of anyone else, then I will stab that person in both hearts immediately with you still inside of them. If you do not leave Romana in less than a minute, then I will do the same to her."

"That won't hurt me," the Intelligence said.

"Are you sure? Are you really so certain that if your host body dies with you still inside of it that you will not go along with it too?" Leela asked in a cold voice.

"You would never kill Romana. She's become your best friend," the Intelligence said.

"I would do it in a heartbeat in order to save her from becoming your puppet once more," Leela said.

"You're bluffing," the Intelligence said.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me if I am bluffing," Leela said.

The Intelligence studied her face for a moment and then he said in a low voice, "No, you're not."

Leela suddenly stiffened as the Intelligence said through her now, "Which is why I just jumped into you instead."

Now the Intelligence laughed again as he said, "Now, Doctor, let's make a deal. You allow me to kill you or I'll kill your friend here with this knife that I'm still holding at her throat."

"Don't do it, Doctor. He'll just kill us all anyway," Romana said.

"No, Romana. I didn't just get you back only to lose you again," the Doctor said.

"Very good, Doctor. Now kindly stand still and allow me to finish you off at last," the Intelligence said.

He quickly pushed Romana aside and then opened the TARDIS doors as he rushed by the console. The Doctor then realized what he planned to do and tried to move aside, but it was already too late. Using Leela's lightning fast speed and reflexes, the Intelligence grabbed the Doctor and then jumped out of the TARDIS and into space taking him along with him. The two of them quickly floated away still battling with each other even as their oxygen supplies ran out.

"Doctor!" Clara screamed as she stood helplessly at the doorway of the TARDIS.

Amy raced to the console and started trying to dematerialize the TARDIS immediately so that she could rematerialize it around the Doctor and Leela. She found to her horror though that the ship wouldn't change course at all in any way.

"What's going on? I thought that the TARDIS had been fixed," Amy said in frustration.

"Negative. All traces of the Intelligence have been removed from its systems and it has changed course, but the console controls have still not been brought back online again. I am attempting to command the TARDIS to rescue the Master and Mistress Leela through my link to it. It may take a few moments," K-9 responded.

"He doesn't have a few moments, you stupid tin can!" Amy shouted in frustration and worry.

I cannot work any faster without the Master here to increase my processing speed once again," K-9 said.

"Romana, can you do it?" Amy asked.

"I can try. I just hope that I don't blow K-9's systems out while doing it," Romana said as she picked up the sonic screwdriver off of the floor where the Doctor had dropped it.

Meanwhile in space, it was already too late. The Doctor had already passed out from lack of oxygen, and the Intelligence was close to passing out as well.

He idly wondered if Leela had been right and that he would die when she did as he began to pass out too. At least he had taken the Doctor with him he thought before everything went black.

Meanwhile back inside of the TARDIS, Clara's echo suddenly picked herself up off of the floor and said, "There's no need to mess around with the tin dog. I'll get him."

She used her Vortex Manipulator to quickly go outside in order to bring the Doctor and Leela back. As soon as she did so, she started glowing all over her body even as she laid the unmoving bodies of the Doctor and Leela on the floor.

"You're regenerating. So the Intelligence did kill you after all," Clara said sadly.

"Yes, he did. It's a good thing that he didn't have it set so that it killed me permanently. Thankfully the idiot obviously didn't know how to make it work," Clara's echo said.

"When is it going to happen?" Clara asked.

"I don't know. It could be any minute now. I have to admit that I'm a little scared. It's my first time," Clara's echo said.

"It'll be okay. We're all here with you," Clara said in a gentle voice.

Amy meanwhile wasn't paying any attention to either of them. She was checking the bodies of both the Doctor and Leela for signs of life. She began crying as she said, "I think that they're both dead."

"What?" Clara said as both of her hearts skipped a beat.

"I think they're dead, Clara. I don't feel a pulse. The other you got to them too late," Amy said in an emotion filled voice.

"We'll just see what Rory has to say about that," the Rani said as she took the sonic screwdriver from Romana and revived Rory with it.

As soon as Rory started moving again, he said, "Why do I have a huge hole in my chest?"

"You can worry about your looks later, Stupid Face. You need to check the Doctor and Leela to see if they're still alive or not," Amy said as she instantly dragged them to their side.

As Rory started to check for signs of life, Jenny and Susan both began crying as they worried that it was already too late.

"He's got to be alright. He just has to. I only just got here after looking for him for so long. I can't lose him now," Jenny said.

"I can't believe that I've lost Leela again either. I was just getting used to the idea of her being back again, and she's already gone. Now I've lost both of my oldest friends at once," Romana said as she tried to fight back tears herself.

"Rory, please say that he's alright. Please," Susan begged.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing that I can do. They're both gone," Rory said.

At that moment, Clara's echo finally regenerated. As the regenerative energy poured out of her head and arms, she started screaming. Not because it hurt even though it did, but because she had failed the Doctor.

The Great Intelligence had finally won at last.

**Next: Is it really over for the Doctor and Leela? Will this title turn into the adventures of Amy and Clara? Would I really do something that evil? Probably if it was left up to me, but our special guest star next chapter just might have something to say about that. Oh and we'll also get to see a certain Captain. I'm sure you all know exactly who I mean.**


	10. The Final Goodbye

CHAPTER 10

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

**Warning: There are some spoilers from Day of the Doctor and the Christmas special as well in this chapter. At least I'm going by what Moffat said about it anyway.**

THE FINAL GOODBYE

Clara's echo continued screaming long after she had finished regenerating. The others looked at her with sorrow in their eyes. It was as if she was expressing all of the pain and loss of all of them at once.

Then she stopped and a steely determination came over her face as she said in her new Irish accent, "I'm not giving him up that easily. I know someone who may be able to help us. If anyone can, he can."

"Who are you talking about?" Clara asked her echo as she watched her walk over to the console and check to see if K-9 had gotten the controls to function once more.

Clara looked at her other self with amazement. She looked absolutely nothing like her now. This new version of her had a huge mane of vibrant curly hair the same color as Amy's, bright blue eyes full of fire, and was easily two feet taller than she had been previously. Clara smiled at that. She would have made herself taller too if she were in her place.

"I'm talking about a friend of mine. Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood. His organization has all kinds of alien technology on their base in Cardiff. I know if anyone has something that can revive our friends that it's him. So that's where we're going. To Torchwood. By the way, I need a different name from you to avoid confusion. I'll let you keep Clara, and I'll be Oswin from now on. Is that alright with you?" the newly named Oswin said.

Clara smiled at that and at the way that her other self was automatically taking charge. She nodded at her as she said, "Go ahead, Oswin. Let's save our Chin Boy."

Oswin smiled back at her but said nothing.

The TARDIS landed right in the middle of Torchwood and set off all kinds of alarms instantly. Several of the members of Torchwood rushed to surround it ready to attack whoever came out of it, but Jack ordered them to back down immediately.

When the door opened and Oswin stepped out, Jack smiled and instantly began to flirt as he said, "Hello, Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?"

"Not in the mood, Jack. Definitely not in the mood. Oh, I love the sound of my new voice. It's so cool. Isn't it cool?" Oswin said with a mad grin on her face.

Clara flinched behind her. Was this who she would become in the future? Would she become as mad sounding as that? Would she be the madwoman with a box?

"Who are you? Do I know you? I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't forget someone as beautiful as you," Jack said not missing a beat.

"Do you ever stop? This isn't the time for flirting. The Doctor's dead, and I need you to help me bring him back," Oswin demanded.

Jack immediately became serious and suspicious at the same time as he said, "What happened to him?"

"I didn't kill him if that's what you think. I could never hurt him," Oswin said.

Jack looked deep into her eyes for a moment and then smiled as he said, "Clara?"

"I was until I met the real me. She's the woman that I told you that I came from. Now I'm Oswin. You can still call me Clara if you like, but that'll get confusing very quickly since the real one is right behind me," Oswin said with a warm smile.

"I'm not the 'real one', Oswin. I'm just the original. You're Clara just as much as I am," Clara said as she stepped out of the TARDIS behind her.

Jack's face turned to surprise for a moment as he said, "You weren't kidding when you said that you came from her. She's exactly the same as you were. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you were the Clara that stayed here with us a couple of months ago."

Clara smiled as she realized that Jack wasn't flirting with either her or Oswin now. He must have grown to consider Oswin a very good friend.

"A couple of months?" Clara asked Oswin.

"Yes, Leela and I were lost and alone and Jack took us in until we could locate the TARDIS. It took me that long to find its signal with the makeshift device that I built using Torchwood's antiquated equipment. Then I used his Vortex Manipulator to bring myself to you. That's old news now though. We need to help the Doctor and Leela. They both died, and I want you to help me revive them," Oswin said.

"You're talking about the Resurrection Gauntlet, aren't you?" Jack asked.

"Yes, of course. You told me about the right hand one and how it can bring people back to life for a few minutes, and I want you to use it to bring the Doctor back to life just long enough to regenerate. Maybe he could then find some way to help Leela too," Oswin said.

"Oswin, the Gauntlets are gone. We had to destroy both of them years ago," Jack said.

"Years ago? Well, I really missed the mark, didn't I? I'm getting to be just as bad a driver as he is," Oswin said in despair.

"I'm sorry. I don't know of any other way to help them," Jack said sadly.

"Why don't we just go back to when he still had the gauntlets and use them then?" Clara asked.

"We'd risk crossing my own timestream though. We can't do that," Oswin said.

"I could. It's not my timestream," Clara said.

"I don't remember you, I mean Oswin, ever appearing again. Of course you could have still gotten the Gauntlet, used it, and brought it back when I didn't notice. I mean say if someone gave you the access codes to get into Torchwood back then and told you where to find it then you could use it without anyone even knowing about it," Jack said with a sly grin on his face.

"It'll have to be you or one of the others. I'll have to stay here so that I don't accidentally meet myself," Oswin said to Clara.

"I'll do it. I'm good at being sneaky, and I'm a better TARDIS pilot than you are, Clara," Amy volunteered as she came out.

"Hello," Jack said flirting again.

"Hello. I'm Amy Pond, and I'm also married. I appreciate the flirting though. I really do. I used to be an old woman for a long time until lately so knowing that I've got my looks back feels pretty good. Still not interested though," Amy said.

"I'm completely confused, but I'll let it slide," Jack said with a grin.

"It's a long story. Let's just say that I got a second chance, and let it go at that. Oswin, you stay here with Jack, and I'll get your Gauntlet and use it. You'll have to tell me all about it, Jack," Amy said.

Amy took charge now as they left Oswin behind and piloted the TARDIS back to the point in time where Torchwood still had it. She easily broke in, got the Gauntlet, and brought it back to the TARDIS to use on the Doctor and Leela.

When she tried to use it on them though, nothing happened.

"What happened? I thought that Oswin said that this worked!" Amy said in anger and disappointment.

"She also said that you had to have a lot of empathy to make it work. Maybe you don't have enough. Let me try it," Clara said.

"I have plenty of empathy. No one loves him more than me!" Amy said offended.

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe it was because you're not in love with him. Just let me try it," Clara said.

She tried and failed as well. She threw the glove to the ground in anger as she said, "No! It should have worked."

"I'm sorry. I wanted it to work too," Amy said.

Then they and everyone else in the Console Room looked to the doorway of the TARDIS in shock as a glowing figure suddenly appeared there and walked toward the bodies of the Doctor and Leela. The light surrounding the figure was so bright that none of them could see who or what the figure was.

Amy and Clara wondered if they were under attack and started to move forward protectively until the figure held up a hand and said, "Don't worry. I'm a friend of the Doctor's. I've come here to help them."

"How do we know that, huh? You could be here to steal his body for all that we know," Amy protested.

"Wait. It's okay. I know who she is or at least I think that I do. It is you, isn't it? You're the girl who saved Oswin and Leela at the end of the Time War, aren't you?" Clara asked.

"Yes, I am the Bad Wolf. I didn't allow the gauntlet to work because it would only bring them back temporarily, and then they would die for good. When I bring life, I bring them back forever," Rose said.

She touched them both, and they both came back to life gasping for air. Romana rushed forward and embraced Leela as she said, "Are you alright?"

"I am fine. I could feel myself drifting away to another place, and then I was called back by the Golden Woman. By her," Leela said as she noticed Rose for the first time with a look of fear.

"You don't have to fear me. I'm a friend. Remember?" Rose said.

The Doctor looked at Rose in complete shock as he said with worry, "How are you here? You didn't look into the Time Vortex again, did you?"

Rose laughed at him as she said, "No, of course not. For a Time Lord, you have absolutely no sense of time sometimes, do you? This is the version of me who became Bad Wolf. Right now in this moment of time is when I have the complete power of the Vortex at my command."

The Doctor looked at how she was dressed and realized with shock that this was the same Rose who had come back to save him on the Gamestation so long ago.

"You're visiting my past and my future at the same time, aren't you? You didn't just see the past and the future. You visited them as well," the Doctor realized.

"Yes, I did, and I still am doing it. I've already gone back to stop the Intelligence from preventing you from doing what you had to do with the Moment, then I jumped slightly forward to assist that version of you in making the decision on whether to use it or not," Rose said with a knowing smile at him.

"What are you talking about? I was all alone then. No one helped me when the time came," the Doctor said in a sad voice.

"Time can be rewritten. You'll see what I mean soon enough," Rose said with a cryptic smile.

"So now that you've been in my past you've gone to my present," the Doctor said letting that go because he knew that she wasn't going to tell him anything else.

"Exactly. I've seen your entire life from the beginning, Doctor, and I've always watched over you and protected you when I needed to. I'm still doing it. I'm traveling across your entire timestream helping you where I'm most needed in the short amount of time that I have left before I have to go back to the Gamestation and give up my power forever. For everything that I didn't have time to do, I used Clara and her echoes. Sometimes I used others as well without their being aware of it. Like how I made sure that a couple named Ben and Polly got into the TARDIS in order to be there to protect you against the Cybermen when the time came for you to regenerate for the first time and your first body was wearing out. This won't be the last time that you'll see me either. I'll be there looking out for you for the rest of your many, many lives yet to come. Sometimes we'll talk a little. Sometimes a lot. This is the only time, the last time, when I will say good bye. That's what this moment is for," Rose said in an extremely sad voice.

Then her mood quickly shifted to a happier one as she said, "When either I or Clara couldn't be there though, I made sure that there was another to take my place for as brief a time as she had."

"Who are you talking about?" the Doctor asked.

"Here's a clue. Spoilers," Rose said with a mischievous grin.

"Are you saying that you helped create River?" Amy asked.

"Yes. You're barren, Amy. You always were whether you knew it or not so the TARDIS and I both worked together to give you a daughter. I needed someone who would take care of the Doctor when I was no longer there. When River sacrificed herself though, I created another to replace her. You, Clara. I want you to be there with him for the rest of his long, long life to come because I can't be. I can only have the power a short time, and then I have to lose it. I know now that I can never travel with you forever like I wanted to so I kept my promise to you by making sure that someone who I trusted to keep you safe always could. As for me, I'm afraid that I became a little selfish and made sure that I took a little piece of you with me that I could grow old with by helping to create the Metacrisis," Rose said.

"It was you who manipulated the events that created the DoctorDonna," the Doctor realized.

"Yes. I'm sorry for what happened to Donna, but she won't stay that way forever. You can trust me on that. Now I sound like my father," Rose said with a grin.

"Did you bring me and the other Clara back from the end of the War to Cardiff then?" Leela asked.

"Yes, that was me. I needed you to be in position to help stop the Intelligence one last time. He's truly dead now, and can't bother the Doctor any more. Now I've brought you both back because I can't ever let my Doctor die. You're too important to the universe. You're too important to me," Rose said.

"I'm going to die anyway. This is my final incarnation. There are no other lives. I've used all of my regenerations up, and I'm going to die at Trenzalore. I've already seen that," the Doctor said.

"Is this version of you always this dim or what? Here I am an all-knowing close to omnipotent avatar of the Vortex telling you the future, and you insist on arguing with me about it! Just shut up and listen for once and stop babbling, Doctor!" Rose said.

The Doctor looked insulted, and Rose laughed as she said, "I'm sorry, Doctor. You just get on my nerves to no end sometimes."

Then she surprised him by kissing him, and the Doctor smiled as he remembered their first kiss on the Gamestation so long ago. Although technically this would be their first kiss now depending on how you looked at it.

Clara looked at them with a worried expression as Rose said, "Don't worry. I'm not stealing him, Clara. He's yours now. I just wanted one last kiss or is it the first? I hate time travel sometimes. If it can even confuse the TARDIS, then it can certainly confuse me. I have to go soon. I'm sorry."

The Doctor looked devastated at having to lose her for a third time and Rose smiled as she said, "Remember that I said that you'll see me again from time to time. That's something to look forward to, isn't it? As for me, I'll be alright. I'll have you or at least part of you there with me for the rest of my life. We're going to have a good life together, Doctor. I promise. So are you. You and my Clara will have your own forever as well as you travel through time and space together. Forever. So we both get our happy endings, don't we? I get to grow old with you and you get to travel eternity with her. Am I good or what?"

"Neither Clara or I are immortal unless . . . Did you do something to me when you brought me back?" the Doctor asked.

"To quote that second wife of yours yet again today, "Spoilers!" Oh, and be sure and remember the Doctor's real name, Clara. It'll come in handy one day," Rose said.

"You told River to write it down for me to read, didn't you?" Clara realized.

"Yes and no. I planted the idea in her mind anyway. We never actually met. River knew that she probably didn't have much longer to be with the Doctor so she passed the name down to you to use when the time came because she knew that you would be the one to travel with him next from one of your echoes that she met once before, the original Oswin Oswald, the one who was turned into a Dalek," Rose said.

Rose started to fade then as she said, "It's time. I have to go now. I'm starting to burn up. I can feel it. Before I go to the Gamestation though, I just have to say one last thing. The one thing that you never said to me. I love you, Doctor."

The Doctor knew that this was his last chance to say it to her so he said, "Rose Tyler, I love you too."

Rose smiled a huge face wide grin as she said, "Now, was that so hard?"

Then she embraced him one last time and said, "Good bye, Doctor. You'll see me again, and I'll see you in the next five minutes. The old you with the leather jacket and the ears."

"I just wish that you could remember this. You'll forget everything when you become Rose again," the Doctor said.

"Did I? Or did I just pretend to?" Rose said with a grin.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Rule number one isn't just for you. Sometimes it can apply to your companions too. Goodbye, Doctor," Rose said with a mournful look on her face.

Then she disappeared. The Doctor heard a TARDIS dematerializing in the background and realized that it was his from the past. He realized then that Rose had been so powerful that she had kept a paradox from occurring even when she had caused the TARDIS to cross its own timestream.

The Doctor then turned to Clara with a concerned look on his face as he said, "I hope that didn't hurt you, but I'll always love her. I have to be honest about that. You're the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with though."

Clara smiled as she said, "I'm going to be honest when I say that it does hurt some, but I realize that it was you getting to say goodbye to her one last time. I can't be angry about that. Not when I'm the one who gets to keep you. I'd never be that petty. I love you, Doctor."

"I love you too, Clara Oswald. I won't make the same mistake that I made with Rose and never say it," the Doctor said as he kissed her.

"You'd better not or I'll have to slap you senseless," Clara joked as she kissed him back.

The Doctor smiled as he briefly wondered if Rose had left a little something of herself behind in Clara somehow. He wouldn't put it past her.

**Next: The Doctor returns to Torchwood to retrieve Oswin and finds himself caught up in an adventure with Jack that winds up taking them to Chiswick and a meeting with . . . Donna Noble?! In the next chapter, I'll reveal what happened to Donna and how she fits into things. Also I'll see if I can find a way around that pesky amnesia of hers.**


	11. Donna Noble Returns

CHAPTER 11

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

DONNA NOBLE RETURNS

As the TARDIS piloted by Amy returned to Torchwood in the present day to pick up Oswin, the Doctor found himself being squeezed to death as Susan and Jenny both embraced him at the same time, one on each side of him. Both of them had been completely terrified that they had lost him forever when he died. Now that he was back again they wouldn't let go of him for fear that something would happen to him again.

Especially Jenny.

"Don't you ever do that again, Dad! Ever. I - I love you so much, and I can't stand to lose you again. I just can't. I don't think that I could take it this time," Jenny said in an emotional voice that kept threatening to break.

"I love you too, Dad. Please look out for yourself much better than that from now on. I don't want to grow up without a Dad too. I know what it did to Jenny, and I don't want that happen to me. I don't want to ever see her that upset again either. I was afraid that she was going to collapse. Please promise me that you'll be more careful in the future. Please?" Susan asked.

"I will be more careful, Susan. I promise. I'll definitely be more careful from now on because now I have two very good reasons to come back in one piece from an adventure. I love both of you with all of my hearts, and I never want to see those frightened, scared looks on your faces ever again," the Doctor said firmly.

Both of them smiled at him as he held them close to him and kissed their foreheads. Amy smirked at him as she said, "Did I call it right or what?"

"What do you mean, Pond?" the Doctor asked.

"You just can't stand to see children cry especially your own," Amy said.

"No, I never could. Susan, the other Susan, used to have me wrapped around her finger. Whenever she'd get upset, I'd instantly cave. That was saying something too because that was when I was the tetchy old man. He never backed down to anyone," the Doctor said.

"Could you tell me more about the other Susan, Dad? Was she anything like me?" Susan asked.

"Yes, in many ways. She had your curiosity and zest for life. She could also bring out the best in everyone especially me just like you do. Another similar thing was that she was extremely intelligent just like you. I think that it was very appropriate of Ushas to name you after her," the Doctor said.

Susan smiled at him pleased by his words and the fact that she reminded him of someone who he obviously had loved very much. She wished that she could meet her. She wondered if the other Susan would have liked her or not or resented her having the same name as her.

She knew that she would never know that of course. Not unless that Bad Wolf Girl's hints actually meant something. She desperately hoped that they did.

"Talking about me, are you?" the Rani said as she walked up to the Doctor with a large smile and kissed his cheek.

The Doctor was taken aback by this but smiled all the same. He couldn't get used to the new Rani, but he certainly liked her. He was so glad that she was back to being his friend again just as she had been when they were young.

"I was just telling Susan that she's just like the other Susan. You named her very well," the Doctor said.

"I always liked her. She was a very nice girl," the Rani said sadly as she put her arms around the Doctor and gave him a sympathetic hug.

"I can't get used to you being so warm and loving. You're just like you used to be," the Doctor said.

The Rani looked amused by his reaction as she said, "I'm glad. I've missed being this way. I've missed it so much. Doctor, I want to be called Rayna from now on. The Rani is dead. Let her stay in the past."

"I prefer to call you Ushas. I'm used to that," the Doctor said.

"That's fine. I'll answer to either one although I prefer Rayna I think. Rayna was my second chance to get it right, and I think that I owe it to her from now on to use her name in order to honor her for what she did for me," Rayna said.

"You act like Rayna's dead," Rory said in concern.

"It's hard to explain, Rory. She's still alive in me because she came from me, but the person that she was is basically gone. I'm sorry if that upsets you," Rayna said.

"I think that you're wrong about that because you act just like her. I think that you're more like her than you think," Rory said.

"Maybe you're right. I hope so. I'd rather be her than who I was," Rayna said as she gave him a warm smile.

"I happen to like who you are myself. I'm not sure why you think that you need a name change, my dear, but it doesn't really matter to me anyway. As long as you stay just as sweet and wonderful as you are now, you can call yourself whatever you like," Yana said as he kissed Rayna.

"Maybe you could call her Fred," Romana joked.

No one but the Doctor got her little in-joke. Everyone else just looked at her in confusion. She grimaced as she said, "Sorry, I think I've picked up the Doctor's bad habits."

"There are certainly worse people to model yourself after," Leela said with a smile.

"Yes, but I'd rather not model myself after a madman. No offense meant, Doctor," Romana said.

"None taken," the Doctor said cheerfully.

"He calls himself a madman all of the time. I think he thinks of it as a badge of honor," Amy said with a grin.

"Personally I bet that he thinks being mad is somehow cool," Clara joked.

"Then he's been cool for a very long time then from at least around the time that I first met him," Romana said.

"He was definitely mad when I met him too," Leela said.

"I can confirm once and for all that he's been mad all of his life. I knew him when he was a Time Tot, and our instructors used to think that he was mentally unstable even then," Rayna said with a chuckle.

"Does that mean I'm mad?" Susan asked in concern not getting that the others were just kidding. Well, mostly kidding anyway.

"No, sweetie. You're no madder than I am," Jenny said reassuringly.

"Oh, no," Susan said in a horrified voice and then grinned.

"I think I should be offended by that," Jenny said.

"I'm sorry, Jen. I just couldn't resist teasing you. It's what little sisters are for," Susan said.

Clara smiled at her daughter's impish behavior because she was so much like her. She never thought that she could love anyone as much as she did her parents or the Doctor, but Susan had gladly proven her wrong.

The TARDIS finally landed then, and the doors opened to reveal an extremely happy Oswin running inside. She saw Amy at the controls and instantly hugged her with joy as she said, "Thank you so much for driving! I've been worried sick that he wouldn't show up for years or maybe even centuries."

"I insisted on driving. I wanted to make sure that I got back to you sometime before you were on your last incarnation, Oswin," Amy said.

"It's my TARDIS, and I should be the one who pilots her. I've been driving it for 900 hundred years so I think that I should know a little something about how to do it correctly," the Doctor said indignantly.

"12 years!" Amy said as she glared at him.

"Do you have to keep bringing that up? It gets old, Pond," the Doctor said with a sigh.

"Well, I guess it's time to go now. I should probably head back to Angie and Artie. I just left in a hurry without really giving them much of an explanation, and I certainly don't want to leave them alone any longer than necessary. I am supposed to be their nanny after all," Clara said.

"It's okay. I'll get you back right after you left," the Doctor said as he eagerly stepped up to the console.

"Touch it and die, Raggedy Man. I'm bringing her back to a time from before her kids are ready to collect their retirement," Amy said with a grin.

"This is my TARDIS," the Doctor protested.

"We're partners now. Remember? That means that I'm driving when it's important that we get to the right time and place," Amy said.

"Well if you want to get to where you're going the boring way by getting there right away then go ahead. I like to take the scenic route myself. Life is more memorable that way," the Doctor said.

"Maybe but not today. Today she needs to check on her kids, Doctor. She's worried enough about them," Amy said.

The Doctor nodded and he smiled as he said, "Alright. Next time though, I'm driving. Agreed?"

"Fine. Happy now?" Amy asked as she smiled at him with an amused look on her face.

"Yeah, I am. For the first time in a long time," the Doctor said with a serious look on his face as he looked at the huge crowd of family and friends gathered around him on the TARDIS.

"Good. No one deserves it more than you do," Amy said.

Just before Amy could dematerialize though, Jack came running through the doors and said, "Wait! We're getting reports of some kind of disturbance in Chiswick. There are a group of what sound like Slitheen reported to have broken into a house there, and there are loud screams coming from it."

"I'm sorry, Clara, but this is more important than the Maitlands right now. I'll head there right away, Jack. Do you have the address of this house?" the Doctor asked.

Jack's face became grim as he said, "It's Donna's house, Doctor."

"What?" the Doctor asked as he started to panic.

"Who's Donna?" Amy asked as she saw the Doctor starting to become extremely upset.

"She was a companion of mine. She traveled with me for a while, and she was absolutely brilliant. We did so many great things together. Then something terrible happened, and she became half human and half me. Her brain couldn't handle it so I had to erase her memories of me in order to save her life," the Doctor said with a haunted look on his face.

"I thought that what happened to me was bad. At least I never lost my memories of you not even when I was dying," Amy said as she shivered in horror at the thought of that happening to her.

"What was the problem with her being half Time Lord exactly?" Rayna asked curiously.

"She had my memories and knowledge, and her mind just couldn't contain it all. It was burning it up," the Doctor explained.

"You couldn't fix that?" Rayna asked surprised.

"Of course not. She was involved in a Metacrisis. I had no idea how to fix that. It's never happened before. How do you know how to fix something that's never happened before?" the Doctor asked.

"Actually I have some experience with half-human, half-Time Lords. Rassilon wanted me to experiment with creating them at the end of the War. He thought that the Human Factor being put into our newest soldiers might help them better against the Daleks. I became very good at being able to create stable Time Lord-human hybrids," Rayna said.

The Doctor looked at her with a face full of hope as he said, "Do you think that you could help Donna?"

"I don't see why not. I could either stabilize her or make her entirely human again by taking the parts of you out of her. I'm sure that I can fix her amnesia either way," Rayna said.

Now it was the Doctor's turn to kiss her cheek as he said, "Thank you, Ushas. Thank you so much!"

Rayna smiled as she said, "I owe you that much at least for that time I killed you."

"You killed him?" Amy asked in shock.

"It was an accident. I didn't mean to do it. It happened when I shot the TARDIS down once," Rayna said.

Amy's eyes widened as she said, "I'm glad that you're on our side now."

"I'm so glad to hear you say that," Rayna said.

Clara had been staring at the Doctor for a while now and then she finally said, "Doctor, is this Donna that you're talking about named Donna Noble?"

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up as he said, "Do you know her?"

"Yes, I do. I've known her for years. She's a good friend of my family's. Her family and ours used to do things together all of the time until a few years back when she started becoming depressed for no reason. Even her husband couldn't help her overcome the frequent bouts of depression that she sometimes would get. She used to get so upset just out of the blue, and she couldn't tell anyone why. In the end, it wound up breaking up her marriage. She didn't let it defeat her though. She used her money to create a foundation to research the brain so that she could find a cure for her problem. She never found one, but she did help a lot of people with their problems along the way. So many people love her for that. Even out of something terrible, she made something good," Clara said.

The Doctor looked devastated by this and so did Jenny. She couldn't believe that something like that had happened to a good woman like Donna.

"I thought that I had helped her," the Doctor said in a pain filled voice.

"We're going to help her now, aren't we?" Jenny said.

"Yes. Yes, we are," the Doctor said with determination.

The Doctor took off immediately, and the TARDIS soon landed invisibly right in the middle of Donna's house. As soon as they landed, they all heard anguished screams coming from outside.

The Doctor turned on the monitor and saw to his surprise that it wasn't Donna doing the screaming. It was the Slitheen!

The Doctor started laughing as he saw Donna pounding the living daylights out of all of the Slitheen around her with a broom. The Slitheen just kept trying to get to her and every time that they came close she would whack another of them in the head and make them cry out in agony.

"You idiots! Surely you can manage to subdue one human female!" one of the Slitheen, who was standing very far away from the others, complained.

"I don't see you doing any better. In fact, I don't see you even trying at all," another Slitheen answered in anger.

"I'm leading you. That means that I stand over here and lead," the leader of the group said.

"Funny how leading and being a coward look so very similar," another Slitheen said as he nursed his aching head.

"Come on, you freaky Spacemen! Come and get me if you think you can! I don't know what you're doing here, but no one's going to use a probe on Donna Noble or force her to carry their disgusting alien babies. You're not mating with me! Have you got that?!" Donna screamed.

The Doctor grinned as he said, "Same old Donna."

"Maybe we should come back later. I bet Donna will have them begging her for mercy by then," Jack suggested with a grin.

"No, we're not going anyway. We're going out there right now," Amy said firmly.

She then promptly marched outside and said, "Hey, who do you think you are? You get away from her!"

"Oh, no! Another red headed human female, and she's just as bad as the other one!" one of the Slitheen said in a panicked voice.

"Hey! Watch the cracks about the red hair!" Amy said.

"They're very rude, aren't they?" Donna said not even questioning how Amy got in there because she was so glad to see another human being at that moment.

Then she began to grin as she said, "Rude and not ginger. I knew someone just like that once. He had something to do with aliens too I think."

Suddenly she began to look very sick as she said, "My head. It hurts."

The Slitheen leader chuckled as he said, "Finally. Your memories are surfacing at last, aren't they? Tell us where the Doctor is, human. Tell us now!"

"He's right here!" the Doctor said as he ran out with twin water guns filled with vinegar and started spraying the Slitheen with them.

Jenny rushed out and quickly put her arms around Donna as she started to guide her into the TARDIS. Donna looked at her with recognition in her eyes as she said, "I must be hallucinating! Jenny? You're dead."

"No, I'm not. I got better, and you will too. You'll see, Donna," Jenny said happily.

Then Donna screamed as more memories started flooding into her mind. Jenny quickly brought her into the TARDIS as the Doctor finished off the last of the Slitheen except for their leader who he cornered.

"Why are you here? Why did you think that Donna knew me for? How did you even find out about her?" the Doctor demanded in anger.

"Through me, Doctor! I hired them to question her as to your whereabouts. I knew that she would know. Did you think that I would forget about her? Her name is one that I will never forget! Not after what she did to me!" a familiar voice said from behind the Doctor.

The Doctor turned around to see Davros come gliding into the room. His face was contorted with rage and anger as he said, "Now I will have my revenge against both of you, Doctor! First I will destroy you, and then I will take great pleasure in destroying her!"

As the Doctor remembered the look of pain on Donna's face when Jenny took her inside of the TARDIS, he couldn't help but wonder if Davros had already done that without even realizing it. He silently prepared himself to do battle with the Dalek Creator even as he hoped that Ushas would be able to help Donna. He would never forgive himself if Donna died because of him.

That would be the final straw that would break his hearts forever.

**Next: The fate of Donna Noble is revealed as the Doctor and Amy battle with Davros for her life while Rayna battles for her mind. Will they both succeed?**


	12. The Doctor's Two Worst Enemies Team Up

CHAPTER 12

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE DOCTOR'S TWO WORST ENEMIES TEAM UP

As they stood together in the Console Room of the TARDIS, Jenny held Donna's hand with concern in her eyes as the redhead continued to scream out of control. Then the Doctor's failsafe to prevent her from remembering again was finally triggered, and she immediately went into a peaceful sleep.

Jenny quickly caught her before she hit the floor and lifted her up into her arms. She carried her through the corridors like a child as she headed straight for the medical bay.

"You're certainly a lot stronger than you look. You're carrying her around like she's a doll instead of a full grown adult," Clara said with amazement as she followed behind her.

"All Time Lords are from what Dad told me. You are too now," Jenny replied.

Clara had a surprised look on her face for a moment as she said, "Yeah, I suppose I am. I haven't noticed being any stronger though. Of course I never have any reason to use my strength so I guess I wouldn't notice it yet, would I?"

"No, you don't fight much. I've noticed that," Jenny said as she finally reached the medical bay and laid Donna down on one of the beds so gently that it made Clara smile.

"She's alright now. I hope Rayna can help her. She doesn't deserve to be in so much pain," Jenny said as she gently kissed Donna's forehead.

It was obvious that she loved Donna with all of her heart. It showed through in her every action. Clara idly wondered if Amy was about to be replaced as Jenny's mum.

"I try not to fight if I can help it," Clara said as she responded to her earlier comment.

"I know. That wasn't meant as a put down, Clara. I actually like that about you. I wish that I was more like you sometimes, but I'm too much of a soldier for my own good. It's been hardwired into my brain by the generator that made me," Jenny said with regret.

"So was the urge to kill, but you overcame that," Clara pointed out.

Jenny smiled at her as she said, "Yeah, I suppose you're right, Mum."

"Mum? I thought Amy was your mum?" Clara asked completely surprised.

"You're going to be my mum too though, aren't you? I've seen the way that Dad looks at you so I know that he's definitely going to marry you someday. Rose pretty much confirmed that. I just decided to start calling you mum too so that we could both get used to it. You don't think that Proper Mum will be mad about that, do you?" Jenny asked

Clara was amused as she said, "If you mean Amy, I don't think so. No. I don't think she'll be mad at all."

"Good. I'd never intentionally hurt her. She's had enough pain in her life," Jenny said as she stroked Donna's hair absentmindedly in what Clara knew was a display of her deep affection for her.

"There is such a thing as thinking of more than one woman as your mother, Jenny, especially if you never had one in the first place. I don't think that Amy would mind if you think of me or Donna as a mother. Not as long as you call her Proper Mum," Clara said as she tried not to laugh at that last sentence.

"Good. I'll do that then. Thanks, Third Mum," Jenny said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Third Mum?! Hey! I should at least be Second Mum!" Clara said pretending to be angry and take a swat at her.

Then all of the silliness stopped as Donna moaned in her sleep, and Jenny's face became filled with concern for her. Clara held Jenny's hand as she said, "She'll be okay, sweetie. The Doctor will make sure of it."

Jenny nodded but her expression didn't change. She wished that she could have as much faith that things would turn out alright as Clara did. After all of the horrible things that she had seen in her life as she traveled alone through time and space though, that kind of faith was a little harder for her to come by now than it would have once been.

Meanwhile back in Donna's house, the Doctor and Amy were very busy trying not to get killed as Davros bombarded both of them with electrical bolts from his hand. The only things saving them at the moment were their sonic screwdrivers which they were using to redirect each of Davros' attacks away from them as quickly as he delivered them. They both knew though that Davros only had to get a single attack by them just once, and then they would be completely at his mercy as he slowly electrocuted them.

"So, Davros, I can't help but notice that you're alone this time. I mean besides the Slitheen of course, and they were absolute rubbish. I'm just dying to know what's going on. Where are the Daleks? Did they finally wise up and leave you behind?" the Doctor asked as he tried to make Davros angry and goad him into making a mistake.

"I don't need them to destroy you, Doctor, because I am your superior in every way. I will kill you and your pathetic little companion all by myself, and then the Daleks will give me a hero's welcome once I return to them," Davros said as the electrical bolts coming out of his hand suddenly became even wider and more violent.

"'Pathetic little companion?' Pathetic little companion?!" Amy shouted as her face turned red with anger.

"Now, you've done it. You've just made the biggest mistake that you'll ever make, Davros. You just made Amy Pond mad. Prepare to face the wrath of the Scottish Storm!" the Doctor said with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Amy said to the Doctor in a cold voice before she turned towards Davros to glare at him.

"First of all, you jumped up little Hitler wannabe, I am not his companion. Not anymore. I'm his partner. We're equals in every way now. Second of all, I'm far from pathetic since I once killed Madame Kovarian in an alternate reality all by myself though I'm not proud of that. Third of all, I'm not and never have been little. I've got legs that go on for miles thank you very much. I've always been one of the tallest people around," Amy said proudly to Davros even as she continued to redirect his attacks with minimal effort.

"That's for sure. Your legs are like a giraffe's legs," the Doctor said as he glanced at them.

"You really need to stop looking at my legs like that, Raggedy Man. If Clara found out about it, she might not understand," Amy said joking.

"Stop that! You know that I wasn't . . . I don't think of you that way. I never have. Just stop that!" the Doctor said in a flustered and embarrassed voice.

"Why? It's so much fun," Amy said with a chuckle.

"You dare to ignore me and treat me as inconsequential while I attack you! I will crush you both for your impertinence!" Davros said as he suddenly stopped firing on them and rushed towards them.

That was when Amy kicked him away as hard as she could as soon as he got within reach of her, and he slammed right into the nearest wall making the entire wall shake. His head was jerked back as soon as he hit, and he screamed in pain as it seemed that he had quickly developed a painful case of whiplash.

Now while he was momentarily distracted, Amy pounced on top of him and held his hand down and pointed firmly away from her as she smiled at him in triumph.

"And that's how it's done, Doctor. I made him so angry while poking fun at you and ignoring him that he made a serious mistake," Amy said.

"Be careful, Pond. He isn't that easy to defeat. He's very treacherous and clever. He hasn't been around for centuries for no reason," the Doctor warned.

Amy smiled as she said, "I appreciate the concern, Doctor, but I can take care of myself now. I'm pretty old and treacherous too even if I don't look the part anymore."

Davros smirked at her as he said, "Yes, now that I'm this close to you I can see the age and weariness in your eyes now. You're far older than your appearance suggests, aren't you? The pain and loss in your eyes remind me of the Doctor's. He did this to you, didn't he? You're just another in a long list of people whose lives that he's ruined just as he did Donna Noble's."

Amy could practically feel the waves of guilt and sorrow radiating off of the Doctor from behind her without even having to turn to look at him. She snarled at Davros for putting him through that as she said, "The Doctor didn't make me travel with him. I did it of my own free will knowing full well what might happen to me someday. None of this pain that I feel came about because of him anyway. It came from having my life manipulated and destroyed by others who interfered in it with no concern whatsoever with how that it would affect me. None of that was the Doctor's fault, and I don't blame him for it all. He shouldn't blame himself either."

"No, you really don't blame him, do you? Yes, I can see that. You blame yourself," Davros said with a wicked smile on his face.

"Amelia, don't listen to him. He's trying to play his little mind games on you. It's what he does," the Doctor said.

"Is that why my earlier remarks got such a violent response out of you because you realize just how weak that you truly are? It's true, isn't it? Is that why you consider yourself an equal partner of the Doctor's because you see yourself as a destroyer of lives like he is?" Davros asked.

Images of Rory and River flashed through Amy's mind as the guilt that constantly weighed on her heart briefly surfaced. Davros was right. She did secretly blame herself for what had happened to both of them. If she hadn't chosen to travel with the Doctor, each of them would have had a much better life. She and she alone had destroyed their lives, and she knew it.

"River told me just before she died that she wouldn't change a moment of her life, Amy. She had no regrets whatsoever and didn't blame you for anything so stop blaming yourself," the Doctor said as he realized what she was thinking.

Amy was surprised by this and then smiled as she said, "Thank you."

Davros laughed as he said, "How touching! At least you can die now with a clear conscience, my dear!"

Before Amy could ask him what he meant by that, she suddenly screamed in pain as Davros' chair suddenly electrified the entire area around him and countless volts of electricity poured into her body. She was frozen and unable to move as the electricity made its way through every part of her, and her body's nerve endings seemed to be on fire as she continued to scream relentlessly.

"Amy!" Rory screamed as he came running out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor was so intent on attempting to use his sonic screwdriver to shut this deadly new attack of Davros' off that he didn't even notice Rory's arrival at first. Then he heard Davros scream and looked up to see Rory firing the gun in his hand at the Dalek creator over and over again.

Davros' chair suddenly caught on fire all over it as he shouted, "I will not be defeated! I will kill each and every one of you and return to the Daleks in triumph!"

Even with his chair on fire underneath him, Davros raced towards Rory as he turned his full attention towards him while he fired on him with the electrical blasts from his hand. Amy fell to the floor as Davros continued trying to electrocute Rory.

The Doctor raced to Amy's side even as Davros and Rory fought with each other. Neither side was able to gain a clear advantage over the other as they continued to fight each other to a standstill while the Doctor checked Amy's vital signs.

"Doctor, is she going to be alright?" Rory asked as he could see that Amy wasn't moving.

The Doctor nodded as he said with a relieved smile, "She's fine. We Time Lords are extremely hard to kill. A little bit of electricity isn't going to hurt us."

"A little bit?! It felt like enough voltage was being poured through me to light up a whole lot full of Christmas trees!" Amy complained as she woke up.

"Time Lord? Of course. I should have realized. So you're finally no longer the last one, are you, Doctor? I'm sure that the Daleks will be more than glad to take her away from you as soon as I let them know about her existence," Davros said with maniacal laughter.

Suddenly Davros' laughter was caught in his throat as he found himself face to face with a furious Jenny who had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere and wrapped her hands around his throat. Fear shot through Davros as he saw the anger flash through Jenny's eyes like the lightning flashes in a thunderstorm. He saw the full anger and fury of a Time Lord up close and personal, and even he flinched back from it.

"You hurt my mother then you threatened to kill her while laughing about it! You'll never get another chance to do anything to her. This is the end for you," Jenny said in a cold almost mechanical voice that sounded nothing like her.

"Jenny, no!" the Doctor shouted.

"Jenny, don't do this. You're not like him. You don't kill," Amy pleaded.

"I finally found a mum, and he's trying to take you away from me," Jenny said as her grip tightened.

"Jenny! Remember what I said about how you could choose to overcome the instincts of a soldier?" Clara said behind her.

Jenny hesitated as she looked at Clara with eyes filled with fear. "He'll kill her if we let him go. He'll take my family from me," Jenny said in tears.

"No, he won't. We won't let him. Come on, Jenny. You're better than this. Let him go," Clara said in a soothing voice.

Jenny punched Davros in the face instantly knocking him out and then ran to Clara. Clara held her while she cried as the Doctor looked at her with astonishment as if he was seeing her in a new light.

"She truly is impossible. Every time that I think that I have her figured out she goes and completely surprises me somehow," the Doctor said with a huge smile on his face.

Amy smiled at him as she said, "You're really head over heels for her, aren't you? I can see why though. I like her. She's definitely something special. She needs to stay away from my daughter though or I might get jealous."

"It's okay, Proper Mum. I still love you the best," Jenny said.

"Proper Mum?" Amy said with a perplexed expression on her face that made the others burst out laughing.

"So what happens to me?" the surviving Slitheen who had been watching all of this without speaking all of this time said as he finally spoke up.

"You and Davros will be given over to the Judoon. I've already signaled them with my sonic so don't try to run. Maybe you'll get a reduced sentence since you didn't try to help Davros kill us," the Doctor said optimistically.

"Mercy from the Judoon? I doubt it," the Slitheen said with a snort of derision.

"So tell me. Did Davros ever explain why the Daleks weren't with him? I'd like to know just out of curiosity," the Doctor asked.

"They blamed him for their defeat at the Medusa Cascade and banished him. The only reason that they didn't kill him was because they reasoned that they might need him again someday. He's to have no contact with them ever again or he'll be instantly exterminated. Ever since then, he's been trying to find some way to get back in their good graces again for years now with no success. Apparently he finally got to the point where he became desperate enough to attack you all by himself in a last ditch effort to get them to take him back. Apparently my people and I were the only ones who he could get to go with him. We were the only ones insane enough to attack you I suppose. It's only because we needed the money that we took the job. We have massive debts with people who you do not want to owe money to," the Slitheen answered.

The Doctor nodded as he asked, "Why didn't you help him then?"

"I didn't do it out of any sense of morality if that's what you're asking. I just realized that the odds were against me and decided that it was better to live to fight another day," the Slitheen said.

"What changed your mind though?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"That woman. She's scary," the Slitheen said as he pointed at Amy.

The Doctor laughed as he said, "Yeah, I know. She's been scaring me for years."

Then he yelled as Amy slapped him while saying, "Apparently, I haven't scared you enough."

"Doctor, I'm about to try to fix your friend's condition. I thought that you might want to be there," Rayna said as she suddenly appeared in the doorway of the TARDIS.

The Doctor and the others immediately raced back inside of the TARDIS without another word leaving Davros and the Slitheen behind. They were only alone for a few seconds before the Judoon appeared to retrieve them. As the Judoon carted them off, the Slitheen briefly wondered if what he had told the Doctor were true or not.

Perhaps he had held back because he had realized that Davros was too evil even for him and that he had no wish to work for him for any amount of money. He smiled to himself as he wondered if maybe he had a sense of ethics after all. Wouldn't that be funny if it were true?

Back inside of the TARDIS, the Doctor and the others gathered inside of the medical bay and watched as Rayna placed Donna inside of a machine that she had spent the entire battle with Davros cobbling together out of bits and pieces found throughout the TARDIS. Rayna checked everything over again one last time just to make sure that it was ready before looking at the Doctor with what she hoped was a confident, hopeful look on her face. She didn't want to worry him any more than he already was after all.

Rayna smiled her brightest smile as she said, "I'm ready. Now I just have to know what course of action that you want me to take next. Should I attempt to make her all human once again or stabilize her as a half human half Time Lord? Making her all human once again is the safest option and the easiest one."

The Doctor looked uncertain for a moment and then he finally said, "I'd really like for Donna to decide."

Rayna nodded as she said, "With my telepathic abilities, I've managed to create a buffer around her mind that will temporarily allow her to keep her memories without it burning her brain up. It won't last long though. Go ahead and ask her what you want while you still can."

Then Rayna woke Donna up. Donna looked at all of them in shock at first until she suddenly remembered everything again. Her head was already starting to hurt though as she said, "Doctor? Is that you?"

"Yep. I look much better than Old Sandshoes, don't I?" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Your chin looks like it could punch a hole through a battleship," Donna said laughing.

"Doesn't it? I told him that he could use that thing as a lethal weapon," Clara replied with a chuckle.

"Clara? What are you doing here? Don't tell me that he's dragged you into being his companion now too?" Donna asked.

"I'm afraid it's a little more than that. I'm a Time Lady now. It's a long story," Clara said.

"I don't know whether to be happy for you or to slap the Spaceman for doing this to you," Donna said.

"I'm fine, Donna. That happened because of something that I did to save the Doctor. He had nothing to do with it. Right now, I'm more worried about you," Clara said as she explained the situation to her.

"So what do you want to do, Donna?" the Doctor finally asked as soon as Clara was finished.

"Can I stay like I am now only without the massive headaches and the amnesia?" Donna asked.

"I can try to stabilize you. It would be better to try to be only human though. You could keep your memories of the Doctor either way. It would be safer for you too," Rayna said.

"I want to go traveling again, and I'm betting after what happened to me the last time that the Doctor won't let me do that if I became ordinary Donna again. Will you? Answer me honestly, Spaceman," Donna said as she fixed him with a firm glance.

"No. I'm not even sure I'd let you travel with me again even if you could stay the DoctorDonna permanently. I'd be too worried about losing you again," the Doctor admitted.

"You're not going to have a choice, Doctor. Now that I have a chance to be what I was once again, I'm going to take it. Then you're going to let me travel with you whether you want to or not. Got it?" Donna asked.

"Donna, I . . ." the Doctor said with a worried look on his face.

Donna's eyes softened as she said, "I'll be alright. What happened before was just a fluke. I want this, Doctor. I want to travel with you again. I've been miserable ever since I stopped, and I never even knew why. Now I do. I finally remember everything, and now that I do I'm going to do something about it. I want to go back to the stars. I want to make a difference again just like I did before. How can I go back to an ordinary life when I've seen all of the things that I've seen?"

The Doctor was reminded of Sarah Jane who had said similar words to him once, and he realized now that she remembered again that Donna wouldn't stop trying to do what they had done before whether he left her behind or not. He would feel much better about being able to keep an eye on her on the TARDIS than he would about just letting her run around all alone on Earth getting into who knows how much trouble there.

He finally nodded and Donna smiled as she said, "Thanks. You're not such a dumbo after all."

"Thanks. I think," the Doctor said.

Donna suddenly started screaming again as she said, "Doctor, it hurts! I've never had such pain in my life!"

"It has to be done now. I had to take your failsafe away in order to restore her memory for a while. Her mind is burning up even faster now because of that," Rayna said.

"Do it. Help her!" the Doctor shouted.

Rayna started up her machine as Donna screamed louder and louder. The Doctor gripped Clara's hand in fear, and she put a comforting arm around him. At the same time, Amy had her arms wrapped around Jenny who was already starting to cry.

"It's going to be alright," Amy whispered to her.

"Yana, help me calibrate the machinery. Her body's fighting it. It's violently rejecting the Time Lord side of her," Rayna said.

Donna screamed louder and louder as Rayna and Yana worked the controls of the machine as fast as they could. They raced to stabilize her body and mind as Donna's alien half overwhelmed and destroyed her human side.

"Fix it now, you stupid Spacemen!" Donna screamed through gritted teeth.

"I'm trying," Rayna said.

"The machine's not working like it should because we didn't have the exact parts that you needed. Those no longer exist so I had to make do with substitutes from the TARDIS. I really thought that they would work anyway though. They should have, but apparently they weren't enough. She's dying," Yana whispered to her sadly.

"I know. I can't let that happen. I can't fail the Doctor. I can't take his friend away from him after everything else that I've done to him. Make it work, Yana. Help me make it work," Rayna whispered back.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked as he could sense their worry.

When neither of them answered him, he became even more worried. He began to wish that he had fought Donna harder about staying half Time Lord. If anything happened to her, he'd blame himself for it for not putting a stop to it when he had the chance.

Yana checked and rechecked the machine as he tried to get it to function properly. Finally he decided to fall back on a tried and true method of fixing something that wasn't working properly. He kicked it as hard as he could.

Then Yana yelled in triumph as he said, "It's a rather primitive way of fixing things, but it never fails. I've fixed it. That should stabilize the process in a matter of minutes now."

The machine worked perfectly from then on and as soon as it finished, Donna stood up and said, "Do any of you have any aspirin? My head feels like I just had the TARDIS land on it about fifteen or twenty times."

"Time Lords can't take aspirin. It's deadly to us," the Doctor said.

"What? I've been taking aspirin this whole time for my headaches! Do you mean that I've been poisoning myself?" Donna asked alarmed.

"No, you're probably okay since you're half human. The human half helps filter the poisons out," the Doctor said with an amused smile on his face.

"Stupid Spaceman! I traveled with you for a year, and you never once mentioned the whole aspirin is deadly thing to me. What if I had given you one by mistake?" Donna protested.

Suddenly the Doctor hugged her as he said, "I'm so glad that you're okay."

Donna smiled as she said, "Of course I'm okay. I never doubted it for a minute."

The Doctor began to cry despite himself and Donna became serious as she said, "I'm so sorry for putting you through that."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I should have found a way to fix you," the Doctor said.

"Oi! You did the best that you could, Doctor. I'm okay now so you can stop the self blame game, okay? I mean I know it's your favorite pastime to moan and groan about how everything that goes wrong is in some way your fault, but you can stop about this one this time. Give yourself a break for once. I'd say that you've earned it," Donna said with a huge grin on her face.

The Doctor began to smile too because he had dreamed about this moment for so long, and now it was finally here. After it finally hit him that he really had Donna back, he grabbed ahold of her, picked her up, and spun her around with joy.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Donna asked in surprise.

"He does that. This version's very emotional. He's all touchy feely," Clara confided.

"Yeah, I can see that. Put me down before I start showing you my version of touchy feely with my hand upside your head," Donna said.

The Doctor sat Donna down, and then he hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead. Donna couldn't help but smile. This Doctor was so different from hers, and yet he was still the same in his hearts.

Jenny took this moment to come up to her and give her a hug herself as she said, "I'm so glad to finally have you back just like you used to be again, Donna. I was so afraid that I was going to lose you. It's so good to see you again, Second Mum."

"Second Mum?" Donna asked in confusion.

"I'll explain it later," Clara said with a chuckle.

"I'm glad to see you again too, Jenny. We were all devastated when we lost you," Donna said as she hugged the girl back.

Before she could start crying, Donna quickly changed the subject. She still kept one arm around Jenny though as she said, "I'm not sure if I like the public displays of affection or not from this version of you, Doctor, but I guess I'll get used to it. I just don't want people to start thinking that I'm your girlfriend or something."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Clara said.

"Really?" Donna asked.

Clara smiled but said nothing. Donna's jaw dropped open as she said, "Really? Congratulations, Spaceman! You lucked out. Clara's a really nice person. You're so lucky that she agreed to date you."

"Oi! You act like I'm some kind of charity case or something," the Doctor said pouting.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror since you regenerated? With that chin of yours, you should count your lucky stars that anyone would agree to go out with you. You'd think that she'd be afraid of getting impaled on that thing," Donna teased.

"Oi!" the Doctor said.

"Oh, hush up, Spaceman!" Donna said as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.

Then the two of them embraced, and the Doctor refused to let her go out of an irrational fear that she might disappear. Donna smiled as she said, "You need to let me go, Spaceman. Your girlfriend might not like it if you keep holding onto me for so long."

"You should see what he does to me. He's always staring at my legs or looking at my naked bum," Amy couldn't resist adding.

"What?" Rory asked.

As Amy smiled at him, he realized that she was joking and shook his head at her.

"I do not! Shut up, Pond!" the Doctor said as he looked at Clara to make sure that she wasn't angry.

To his relief, Clara was laughing. Unfortunately in that moment, Donna had noticed his reaction.

"Who are you?" Donna asked.

"Amy Pond. Nice to meet you, Donna," Amy said.

"Do you make fun of him like that all of the time, and do you always get that kind of reaction out of him?" Donna asked with a merciless look on her face.

"Oh, yeah," Amy said.

"Amy, I think that we're going to be the best of friends. Let's compare notes," Donna said as her smile became wider and wider.

"Oh, no!" the Doctor said with dread.

"What is it, Doctor?" Clara asked as she saw the look of sheer terror on his face.

"I never even thought of that. If they should join forces, I'd never be safe again," the Doctor said as he began to shake all over.

"What are you talking about?" Clara asked with worry.

"Amy and Donna. If they join forces against me, they'll make fun of me relentlessly. It'll be just like Rose and Sarah Jane but a thousand times worse!" the Doctor said with a gulp.

"I wonder if they need some help," Clara said giggling.

"Don't even think about it," the Doctor said as he glared at her.

"Don't worry, Doctor. I'll always be on your side when the big, bad redheads come after you," Clara said as she kissed him.

The Doctor smiled at her with a huge grin that covered his face from ear to ear as he kissed her back. After so much misery for so long, everything was finally going well for him. He had his Clara, he had his Ponds back, he had Jenny and Susan, he had been reunited with Romana and Leela, two of his worst enemies had now become his friends once more, he knew for certain that Rose was happy and doing well, and now Donna was back and remembered him again. He was so filled with emotion that he was afraid that he was going to explode.

For the first time since the Time War, he was completely happy.

**Next: Well, that was the signal for something to go wrong right there, wasn't it? Next time, one of the Doctor's worst enemies returns ready for revenge. I'll give you a clue as to who it is. He knows when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake even if you're not always sure yourself when he's around. I'll give you three guesses, and one of them isn't Santa Claus.**


	13. Which Is The Dream And Which Is Reality?

CHAPTER 13

I do not own Doctor Who or Supernatural and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

WHICH IS THE DREAM AND WHICH IS REALITY?

John Smith woke up next to his wife, Clara, and smiled. She looked even more beautiful asleep then she did when she was awake. It was almost impossible how wonderful she was. And what was even more impossible was that she had married him.

He was so thankful for that each and every day. He still couldn't believe that he had her in his life. It was almost like a dream. A dream that he was so afraid that he was going to wake up from.

"Hey," Clara said as she suddenly woke up and her face lit up in a smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I was about to get ready to go to work," John said.

"It's okay. I didn't want you to go before I could say goodbye anyway," Clara said as she kissed him.

The two of them kissed passionately for at least ten minutes. John completely lost track of time and had to force himself to pull away from the kiss.

"I have to get ready and go now or I'll be late," John said.

"Couldn't you call in sick? We could have a day off and have some fun," Clara said.

"Where would we go?" John asked curious.

"Who says that we have to go anywhere?" Clara said with an evil smile as she started kissing him again.

John pulled himself away again, but he had to admit that it was a lot harder to do that time. He was so tempted to just do what Clara had asked and play hooky.

Clara smiled at the torn look on his face and said, "Go on to work, Chin Boy. I'll still be here when you get back."

John smiled at her private nickname for him as he asked, "Do you promise?"

"I promise. You're not getting rid of me that easily," Clara said.

"I don't ever want you to go. I'd rather die than be alone and without you," John said with a completely serious expression.

"Hey, it was just a joke. I'm not going anywhere, John. I'm staying right here," Clara said as she gave him a tender kiss.

John smiled at her and then quickly got dressed. Before he left to go to work though, he walked into the rooms of each of his little girls, Jenny and Susan, and gave them a little kiss on the forehead while they were sleeping.

They were two more things that he was grateful for each and every day. He loved them both more than he ever thought that he could love anyone.

A smile lit up his face as he left the house and got into his blue Impala. He bought it because of his obsession with the TV show Supernatural. He just loved that show for some reason. Traveling around to a different place every week with a blue vehicle as your only home while you save people and fight monsters. Who wouldn't want a life like that?

Then again even if he did have a life like that he'd gladly give it up in a heartbeat because he would never endanger Clara or his little girls that way. Besides that, you'd have to be some kind of madman to actually want to live that way for real anyhow.

Still it was fun to dream about. Sometimes he imagined that it was him and Clara fighting the monsters together instead of the Winchesters. Clara laughed at him whenever he would tell her about it, but he could tell that she loved the show just as much as he did. He knew that she found that kind of life exciting to daydream about too just like he did.

He soon arrived at his little haberdashery shop that he ran with his sister, Donna, and his best friends, Amy and Rory. They made all kinds of wonderful hats there, and people would come from miles around to buy them. It was a very successful business. It had been his lifelong dream to start it, and he couldn't believe that it had finally come true.

Donna had always teased him for being so obsessed with hats all of his life, but she was just as in love with them herself. She just wouldn't admit it. Now they both helped made designer hats for a living.

Sometimes John had to wonder if any of his life was real. It just seemed too perfect. Almost like a . . .

"Doctor! Doctor!" Clara said waking him up.

The Doctor woke up and looked at her oddly for a moment. For a moment, he wasn't sure if he was John Smith or the Doctor.

"Doctor, are you okay?" Clara asked with concern.

"Yeah, sure. I'm just fine. Why do you ask?" the Doctor said in confusion.

"You were talking in your sleep about your blue Impala and working in a hat shop," Clara said.

"Oh, that's nothing, Clara. It was just a dream. Just a nice, happy little dream," the Doctor said with a wistful smile on his face.

"Really? So you liked working in the hat shop with Donna, Amy, and Rory then?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, I did. It was so cool working around so many hats plus I got to try them all on. Wait! What?" the Doctor asked in shock as he realized the full importance of what she had just said.

"That's right. I know what you were dreaming because I was dreaming it too," Clara said.

"We were married and Jenny and Susan were little girls?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep. That was my dream too," Clara confirmed.

"My favorite show was . . . ?" the Doctor asked testing her.

"Supernatural. You used to tell me about you and me taking the place of the Winchesters in it," Clara confirmed.

"Oh, no. This is so not good," the Doctor said in a worried voice.

"What isn't good? What's going on, Doctor?" Clara asked.

"Doctor! I just had a dream about us running a hat shop! In no way is that my dream!" Amy said as she suddenly burst into their room unannounced.

"You dreamed it too?" the Doctor asked.

"So did I," Clara added.

"Why are we all in the same dream, Doctor?" Amy demanded.

"That's just what I was about to ask," Donna said from behind Amy.

"Please don't tell me that what's happening is what I think is happening. Please don't tell me that, Doctor. Believe me. You really don't want to tell me that," Amy said as her hands began to ball up into fists.

"It's the Dream Lord again, isn't it?" Rory asked as he showed up behind Amy and Donna.

"Uh . . ." the Doctor said with a terrified expression on his face.

"Who's the Dream Lord?" Donna asked.

"Well, is it him or not, Doctor?" Rory asked.

The Doctor looked at the beyond angry look on Amy's face and couldn't speak. He was too terrified.

"It is him, isn't it?" Amy said in a cold voice.

"Who? Will someone please tell me who this Dream Lord is?" Donna demanded.

"Don't ask me. I don't have a clue either," Clara said.

"I can neither confirm nor deny what's happening here," the Doctor said in a nervous voice.

"Why is that then?" Donna asked.

"Because Amy will hurt me if I do," the Doctor said.

"I'll hurt you if you don't," Donna threatened.

Clara couldn't help but laugh at the look of sheer terror on his face. She put her arms around him and said with a warm smile, "Tell them, Theta. I won't let them hurt you."

"Theta?" Rory asked.

"It's his old college nickname," Both Amy and Donna said at the same time.

They smiled at one another for both knowing that.

"So he told you too?" Amy asked.

"No, I actually knew him when he was still called that. Well, Oswin did anyway, but I know everything that she knows because I'm her," Clara said.

"Huh?" Donna asked confused.

"It's a long story. I think we'd rather hear the story of just who the Dream Lord is instead?" Clara said.

The Doctor quickly explained about his past encounter with the Dream Lord and about how he had turned out to be an evil version of him who could trap people in dreams. Amy became even angrier after he finished as she said, "Please tell me that this isn't him again, Doctor!"

"I don't know, Pond. I honestly don't," the Doctor said.

"Is this a dream too?" Amy asked.

"What? How could this be a dream? We're all here in the TARDIS now. This is real," Donna said.

"That's the thing with the Dream Lord though. He can make any dream seem real. You never know whether you're awake or asleep when he's around," Amy said.

"Oh, well that's just bloody great. If I'm trapped in a dream for the rest of my life, I'm going to kill you, Spaceman. If it's that dream about the hat shop, I'll really kill you," Donna said.

"You'll have to get in line," Amy said as she glared at the Doctor.

"Wait a minute though. I thought you said that it was that psychic pollen that got into the TARDIS' time rotor that caused the Dream Lord to be created. How could he be here again?" Rory asked curious.

"I don't know for sure that it is him yet, Rory. If it is though, then it may be that he's here again because he's still in my mind," the Doctor said.

"What?" Amy hissed.

"Well, he's a part of me. He's my dark side so he didn't really go away when the pollen was taken out of the time rotor. He's still in my head. It's . . . possible that he could have taken over my dream and then used my connection to the TARDIS to draw the rest of you into the dream too since the TARDIS is in all of your minds as well," the Doctor said.

Amy moved toward him threateningly as he quickly said, "I said it was possible."

"It's also possible that my hand might make contact with your face in the next five seconds," Amy said through clenched teeth.

"Why don't you just knock him out and get it over with?" a voice said behind Amy.

"What?" Amy asked as she turned to see an old woman standing there with a look of pure anger on her face.

"Who in the world is that?" Donna asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor said as he looked at this new arrival in the TARDIS in complete shock.

"Do you know anything, Doctor, or do you just pretend to? That's what you're best at, isn't it? Pretending to know all of the answers even when you haven't got a clue," the old woman said.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.

The old woman laughed as she said, "Why don't you tell them? You're so clever after all."

"Well, I'd say that you were the Dream Lord, but I really doubt that he suddenly decided to have a sex change," the Doctor said.

"Oh, he's so close, isn't he?" the Dream Lord said as he suddenly appeared next to the old woman.

"So it is you behind all of this," the Doctor said.

"Oh, great! We are in another dream!" Donna said with a moan.

"I'm afraid so," the Doctor said.

"Well, you can just let us out of it right now! Do you hear me, you third rate Spaceman knockoff?!" Donna shouted.

"I can see why you like having her back so much for, Doctor. She's just so amusing. You must just sit there and silently laugh at her all day," the Dream Lord said.

"Shut up!" the Doctor said in anger.

"You like taunting him, don't you? You must really hate him," Clara noted.

"Of course I hate him. I don't see how you don't too especially after everything that you've been through because of him," the Dream Lord said.

"I could never hate him," Clara said.

"Then you must be either blind or stupid," the old woman said.

"Who is she?" the Doctor asked the Dream Lord.

"For lack of a better name, let's call her the Dream Lady. You like that, don't you?" the Dream Lord asked the old woman.

"If I didn't, you'd be out cold on the floor right now," the Dream Lady said.

"She's feisty even as an old woman isn't she, Doctor?" the Dream Lord said with an amused grin on his face.

"Who is? Who is she?" the Doctor asked in frustration.

"How dense are you anyway? You may not know, but one person in this room does. Don't you, my dear?" the Dream Lord said as he looked at Amy.

"Amy, who is she? You know, don't you?" the Doctor asked.

Amy looked away from him in shame as she said, "She's me. That's what I looked like at the end of my life, Doctor. That's what I acted like too. I was angry and bitter because I had lost Rory for what I thought was the last time. I was also angry with you for letting him get stuck in the past in the first place and for what happened to River's life. Sometimes I blamed you for everything that had ever gone wrong in my life whether that was rational or not. I was old and sick and alone for most of the time, and I wasn't handling it well. I wasn't handling it well at all," Amy said in tears as Rory put his arms around her and held her.

The Doctor began to look guilty, and he looked down in shame.

"That's not how I really feel though. That was just what old age can do to you. When your body starts to fall apart and you can't do anything anymore like you used to, it can make you angry and bitter. I was just filled with regret about everything that I had lost and angry that I was so close to the end of my life. I think that I can sympathize with you a little better now by the way about losing your people. That person wasn't really me though. I love you, Doctor, and I always will," Amy said in a heartfelt voice.

"Really? Then why am I still here then, hm? If I'm not really you as you say, then why am I here in this dream?" the Dream Lady said.

"I don't know," Amy said.

"It's not the Doctor that you blame for what happened to you or your family at all, is it? You blame yourself. You were blaming yourself then too, but it was much more convenient to use the Doctor as a scapegoat. I'm here because you're still feeling guilty about all of that, and you don't feel worthy of having this second chance at life that you've been given because Melody isn't here. I'm here because River isn't," the Dream Lady said.

"I told you what River said, Amy," the Doctor said.

"I know and it helped me make my peace with that. At least I thought I did," Amy said in confusion.

"There's a small part of you that remains unconvinced of that though, and it always will be. That small part is me. Now I get to torture you about the guilt that you feel for the rest of your new very long life now. You're never getting out of these dreams, Amelia. Neither you or any of the rest of you. I'll pop up in them from now on and continue to torment you for the rest of your lives," the Dream Lady said with an evil smile on her face.

"Make her go away. If she's you, then you should be able to wish her away or something," Donna said.

"I can't. It doesn't work that way. We had to die in our dreams last time to get out of them," Amy said.

"That won't work this time, Amelia. This time you're stuck in the Dream World for good. There is no escape. Not for any of you," the Dream Lady said with mocking laughter.

"She does make a very good partner, doesn't she? I'm glad that the two of you thought of it. With both of us working together, you'll never be able to stop us!" the Dream Lord said to the Doctor.

"Stop this. If it's me you want, let the others go," Amy said to her other self.

"Oh, no. That would make you happier so that's not going to happen. I want you as miserable as possible," the Dream Lady said.

"Oi! Let us out of here now!" Donna shouted.

"I don't think so. I've only just begun. Now let's see. Where should I put all of you next? What kind of dream or should I say nightmare should it be? Oh, I know just the thing," the Dream Lady said with a malicious smile on her face.

All of them then fell asleep except for Amy who was doing her best to stay awake. She slowly made her way to the Dream Lord and said, "Please stop. If there's any part of you left that's still the Doctor, stop this."

To Amy it almost appeared as if the Dream Lord looked at her sadly as he said, "It's not up to me this time. I'm afraid that I'm not the one running things here."

"Stop this. Please!" Amy pleaded as she turned to look at her other self now.

The Dream Lady laughed at her but didn't say a word. Then Amy collapsed to the floor and finally fell asleep.

"She'll never figure it. It's not us that she has to appeal to at all," the Dream Lady said to the Dream Lord with a huge grin on her face.

"No, but you're very good accomplices, aren't you? Now all I have to do is to increase our power until it ensnares everyone else on this ship," a man dressed all in black said.

"Everyone? Even Ushas?" the Dream Lord asked.

"No, leave her out of this," the man said.

"Oh, so you have a little soft spot for her, do you?" the Dream Lady asked.

"She is to be left untouched," the man said.

"Fine. We don't need her anyway. Soon we'll have plenty of others to torture," the Dream Lady said with a huge grin on her face.

"I'm all for that just as long as you torture the Doctor. No more of this nonsense about a hat shop! I don't want him to be happy. I want him to suffer," the man said.

"You always did. Doesn't it all get a bit boring after a while?" the Dream Lord asked with a sigh.

The man laughed long and hard before saying, "No, it never does. He always makes it so much fun. The Doctor being trapped in his own dreams for the rest of eternity never knowing that it was me behind the whole thing is just so amusing to me. Of course it's not going to be half as fun as restoring my body to its true form and assuming my rightful place in the universe. As its Master!"

The Master laughed at his own cleverness never realizing that he and the others were being watched nearby by a woman with blonde curly hair with a furious expression on her face.

"We'll just see who gets the last laugh, Blondie. There's no way that I'm letting the Doctor stay stuck in here forever. It looks like it's time for me to do a little breaking and entering into dreams of my own. Then again I'm an old hand at that sort of thing," the woman said to herself before vanishing.

Jenny was sleeping peacefully when she suddenly started to have a dream about being in a strange room sitting at a table. She was all alone at first, and then she was suddenly joined by the same woman with the curly hair who had just been spying on the Master and the two Dream Lords.

"Who are you?" Jenny asked in an anxious voice.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. I'll certainly be hurting some other people though before all of this is over with," the woman said as a tea cup suddenly appeared in her hand out of nowhere.

They were soon joined at the table by Susan, Romana, Leela, Oswin, Captain Jack Harkness, and Rayna. They all looked at the woman with puzzled glances as they waited for her to speak.

"Right now you're all sleeping peacefully, but those of you who aren't here with the exception of Professor Yana are not. They've all been trapped within their own dreams by an old enemy of the Doctor's, and I'm going to need your help to get them out of them before you wind up joining them," the woman said.

"You said that Yana wasn't trapped. Does that mean what I'm afraid that it means?" Rayna asked.

"Yes, it does. The Master is the one who has trapped them. He also brought back another old enemy of the Doctor's along with him, the Dream Lord, by subconsciously influencing Yana to put some more psychic pollen into the time rotor of the TARDIS. He wants to get all of you out of the way so that he can take over Yana again and then go off and do whatever it is whiny little megalomaniacs do. I'm not about to let him get away with that though especially not after the guilt trip that he just pulled on Amy," the woman said.

"Who are you and why do you care anyway?" Romana asked.

"I can answer that. The only thing that I can't understand is how you're here," Jack said with a mystified expression on his face.

The woman's face broke out into a large grin as she said,"Oh, death has only made me even more clever, Captain Harkness. I'm just full of all new tricks and secrets these days. Dream walking is only one of them. To answer your question, Romana, my name is River Song, and I'm here to make the Master pay for what he just did to my mother!"

**Next: River has returned to help save the Doctor from the Master. Next time it's River and the others versus the Master and the two Dream Lords as they attempt to free them from the horrible dreams that they have been trapped in. What demented dreams will they find themselves in and how will they get their friends out of them? While all of this is going on, will the Master succeed in freeing himself and restoring his body? How will River's return affect Clara?**


	14. The Stuff of Nightmares

CHAPTER 14

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES

Amy and Rory were tied up and unable to move as they watched the exact moment that their daughter died in the Library over and over again. It was an event that they hadn't actually witnessed themselves the first time around, but now they were getting to see it as if they had actually been there through the Dream Lady's use of the Doctor's memories. She had trapped them inside of that single memory on an infinite loop and forced them to watch River die over and over again until both of them were almost mad as a result.

They screamed for the Dream Lady to stop but she never would. She would keep making them watch this moment for the rest of eternity or until she got bored whichever came first.

As for the Doctor, she had planned something just as satisfying for him as she had him relive some of his worst moments as well: the deaths of his past companions, the end of the Time War, the wiping of Donna's memory, the death of River, the loss of the Ponds, and what she knew was the memory that still affected him worse than all of those even though he knew that she was alright now: the loss of Rose at Canary Wharf.

Then just for some diversity, she added in a new nightmare. This was something that hadn't even happened yet. She had him dream of Clara being converted into a Dalek and used to attack him. It was a fear that he had hidden even from himself ever since he realized the true connection between Clara and the original Oswin Oswald.

For Donna, the Dream Lady used her own lack of self-esteem against her as she had her relive the moment that Lance betrayed her for the Queen of the Racnoss or every time that her mother had made her feel stupid or worthless. Then she had given her a new nightmare where she lost her memory yet again and ended her days miserable and alone. The screams that Donna gave after that one were particularly enjoyable to the Dream Lady.

Clara was given perhaps the worst dreams of all as she was made to relive every single one of her deaths over and over again in rapid succession. She could feel each and every one of them as if she were actually there experiencing them and they would never stop. Each time they would climax with her being turned into a Dalek as Oswin Oswald and blowing herself up to save the Doctor, and then they would start all over again with her very first life. They continued on and on for a long time into an endless cycle, and then the Dream Lady gave her a new nightmare to add to those as Clara found herself watching the Doctor die in front of her over and over again as she was helpless to prevent it.

The worst nightmare though was the return of River Song. In this dream, River returned, and the Doctor threw her aside instantly in favor of her. The Dream Lady received great satisfaction in watching this particular dream along with her. She could see Clara's hearts breaking each time and never stopped enjoying that particular moment each time.

The Dream Lord meanwhile was only enjoying the Doctor's suffering because he felt that he deserved each and every moment of it. He wasn't enjoying the others' suffering anywhere near as much though especially not Amy's. Amy had been through enough at the Doctor's hands and didn't deserve any more pain.

"Are you going soft, Dream Lord? You don't seem to be enjoying the suffering of the Doctor's companions that much. That isn't your reputation at all," the Master said mocking him.

"All I care about is the Doctor. The suffering of the others means nothing to me," the Dream Lord said.

"Knowing that they are suffering makes the Doctor's suffering even worse. That's what matters to me," the Master said laughing.

The Dream Lady walked up to both of them and said, "Will you please take your little debate over who should suffer more someplace else? You're distracting me from the pain and suffering of Amelia. She's the one that I enjoy listening to the most although they're all thrilling in their own way. It's like music to my ears."

Both the Master and the Dream Lord gave each other looks. This woman took self-loathing to an all new level.

It was at this moment that the three of them were distracted that River struck. She entered her parents' dreams and became so enraged at what they were being forced to witness that she pulled out her gun and shot the image of herself dying.

Amy and Rory blinked as the endless cycle of River's death came to a sudden stop and River was now standing in front of them holding a smoking gun blowing the tip of it out. She smiled at them and was instantly drawn into a powerful group hug as her parents shook with emotion at seeing her again.

"Is this real? Is it really you?" Amy said in tears.

"Of course it's her. It has to be," Rory said.

"If you mean am I alive again, then the answer is no. It is really me though. It's what's left of me anyway. My consciousness is inside of CAL, and from inside of her I can project myself anywhere in time and space even into dreams. I'm nothing more than a ghost really, but I can still be seen and heard by certain people given the right conditions. Like now," River said.

Amy broke down as she realized that this really was Melody and began to apologize to her over and over again as she held her. River was now even more furious at what the Master and his two sidekicks had done to Amy but made sure not to show any of that to her. She was going to show plenty of that anger to the Master when the time came however.

"Amy, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen, and even if you had been, there what could you have done about it? Nothing. Once River makes up her mind about something, no one can change it. That's the way she always was even as Mels. Especially as Mels," Rory said with a slight smile.

River nodded at him in appreciation as she said, "Mum, I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened. This was my own decision, and I did it to save the Doctor. I don't regret it or anything else. I need you to understand that."

Actually hearing it from Melody's own mouth made it finally real for her, and she finally let her guilt for what happened to River go at last. The Dream Lady could feel this instantly and became just as enraged as River was but for a completely different reason.

The Dream Lady instantly appeared and shouted, "How dare you forgive yourself? You weren't there to protect your child because you chose to go to 1938 with Rory. It's your fault. Your fault!"

Amy began to cringe at her words, and River could see that she was starting to have her guilt return again. She wasn't about to let that happen.

"Do me a favor, 'Amy' and shut up!" River said as she shot the Dream Lady with her gun.

The Dream Lady screamed as she instantly dissolved away. River grabbed both of her parents' hands and took them with her as she dream jumped into Donna's dream next. She knew that the Dream Lady wasn't really gone. She would never be as long as Amy was alive.

"You shot me," Amy said shocked.

Rory meanwhile could barely stifle a smile. He didn't want to get slapped after all.

"It wasn't really you, and she's pretty much indestructible in this world anyway," River said.

"You shot me," Amy said again.

"I'm sorry. It was necessary. I would never shoot the real you. You know that," River said as she searched this new dreamscape for Donna.

Rory started trying to laugh again but a glare from Amy quickly shut him up as she said, "What do you find so funny? Huh? Is my death amusing to you?"

"N-n-no! Not in the slightest," Rory said nervously.

River laughed at them as she said, "I've missed this so much."

"Why?" Rory asked and received a sudden slap in the face for his remark from Amy.

River suddenly hugged both of them and said, "It's just like old times."

"You get nostalgic over some weird things, Melody," Amy said. She smiled despite this though because she was just so glad that Melody was here to be nostalgic at all about anything.

River found Donna watching herself on the phone mindlessly gabbing away about nothing. Donna was screaming at herself while Jack and Rayna tried to talk to her in vain.

"I said to get off of that phone and remember, you Dumbo! You're talking about useless celebrity gossip when you should be out there among the stars. Remember who you are, and put down that phone!" Donna screamed.

"Donna, that's not real. You haven't lost your memory again. This is all a dream," Jack said.

"Donna, he's right. I should know. I brought your memories back for you. Do you remember that and how much it hurt? Surely you remember that. It was too vivid for you to ever forget it I'm sure," Rayna said.

"It's no use, Rayna. She's not paying any attention to either of us, and I've been flirting up a storm over here. You still find me attractive, don't you?" Jack said both disappointed and a bit worried at the same time.

"Yes, you're very attractive . . . for a human. This isn't the time for you to worry about losing your mojo, Jack Harkness. We have to get Donna out of this dream," Rayna said chastising him.

"Move aside. It seems that I'm going to have to be the one to end all of these dreams," River said in frustration.

"No, wait a minute. I know I can handle this," Jack said.

Suddenly he grabbed Donna in mid rant and planted a huge kiss on her mouth. At first Donna didn't even seem to know what was happening, and then she started kissing him back. As the two of them continued to kiss one another, the dream Donna quickly vanished.

"Leave it to Captain Jack Harkness to defeat the Dream Lord and Lady with the power of his pheromones," River said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"At least we finally know how to shut Donna up," Rayna joked.

"Just be glad she's too lost in the moment to have heard you say that," Amy said laughing.

"I wouldn't have dared to say it otherwise," Rayna said still grinning.

The two of them never broke apart even as the others formed a chain, and River grabbed Jack's hand with hers. Then she dream jumped again to find the Doctor.

After several minutes of searching, they finally found the Doctor who had Jenny and Susan with him. They were both trying to convince the Doctor that the Dalek chasing after him wasn't real and certainly wasn't Clara. So far they had had little success it seemed.

"Dad, that's not Mum. This is all a dream. Mum's fine," Susan said.

"Listen to her, Dad. You know that we wouldn't lie to you," Jenny said.

"Both of you are wrong though. It is Clara. I saw them change her. I tried to stop them but I couldn't. Just like I couldn't save River or Rose or any of the people I've lost. They're all gone now because I brought them on board the TARDIS," the Doctor said as he ran from the Dalek that in his dream kept firing on him.

Even the fact that neither of his daughters was frightened in the slightest of this dream didn't help him to break its grip on him because the loss of his companions was a fear that was too far ingrained in his consciousness. Even now he still worried about losing Clara even though she was a Time Lord

"Stubborn bull-headed man," River mumbled as she aimed her gun at the Dalek and started to fire.

"No, allow me," Jenny said as she pulled out her own gun and blew it into a million pieces.

"Oh, I always liked you," River said pleased.

"River?" the Doctor asked in complete disbelief.

"Are you really that surprised to see me? I mean we just met not too long ago in your timeline. Surely you knew that I wouldn't let you go that easy," River said with a huge grin on her face.

"So it's not real? Clara's alright?" the Doctor asked worried.

River's face fell as she said, "Yes, she is so far. She'll continue to be if we go find her right now. She's facing off against a nightmare of her own right now," River said.

River and the others formed a human chain, and she dream jumped once again as she reluctantly took them into Clara's nightmare next. She didn't want Clara to be lost, but she also knew that what was coming next was going to rip her hearts out.

They found Clara watching in tears as the Doctor kissed River right in front of her. River couldn't help but feel sorry for her and be just a little bit happy at the same time.

Romana, Leela, and Oswin were all trying to break through to Clara and convince her that what they were seeing wasn't real, but so far she wasn't listening to any of them. She was too busy crying her eyes out over what she thought she was seeing.

"Oh, Doctor. How could you do this to me?" Clara moaned.

"Clara, it's not real. The Doctor loves you, and he would never treat you like this. Listen to me, Clara. Why would I lie to myself?" Oswin said in frustration.

"It's no use. This is her worst nightmare, and it's too deeply rooted in her mind for us to break her out of it," Romana realized.

"We could try fighting them again," Leela suggested.

"You already did that by shooting them with Janis thorns. The images only dissolved for a few seconds and then reappeared once again. We'll have to come up with something else," Romana said trying to think things through.

"Only one thing is going to reassure her that this isn't real," the Doctor said as he looked at River hesitantly.

"Do it, Doctor," River said as she started to shake inside.

"River?" Amy asked in concern as the Doctor walked over to the still crying Clara.

"I can't ever be anything but a ghost now, and I know that he has to move on. I know that someone else will need to be there for him now to do all of the things that I can't. I know that Clara cares about him and will take care of him. I trust her completely to do that. I even made sure that she learned his real name because she's going to need to know it one day in order to protect him. I know all of these things have to be, but that still doesn't stop my hearts from breaking," River said as she tried not to break down in front of Amy.

Amy held her anyway while River closed her eyes. She couldn't see what was about to come. Not if she wanted to keep her sanity.

The Doctor stepped in front of Clara and held her face in his hands as he said, "What you're seeing isn't real, Clara. This is."

River expected to hear the sound of kissing at any moment, but what she heard instead was laughter. Clara was laughing!

She opened her eyes to see the Doctor dancing in front of Clara in that drunk giraffe style of his and making her laugh. Clara's dream faded away as Clara laughed her head off.

River smiled and silently thanked the Doctor for finding a way to save Clara without breaking her hearts. That man always found a new way to surprise her, and she had never been more grateful for that then now.

"Very good, Doctor. You saved the day yet again without breaking your River's hearts. Congratulations. You do realize that this was all a means to an end though," the Dream Lord said.

"Oh, yes. This was never about tormenting us for you, was it? It was for Amy's counterpart because of all of the trauma in her past, but this doesn't fit you at all. You were all about tormenting me before and didn't seem all that interested in bothering Amy. What's the real plan here? Or should I say whose plan is it?" the Doctor asked.

"You've already figured it out so why don't you tell me?" the Dream Lord asked with a smirk.

"Where is the Master? Is he even still here at all or has he already escaped back into Yana's body?" the Doctor asked.

"Very good. The Master took advantage of all of this to keep everyone on the TARDIS asleep and distracted while he subtly influenced Yana to put himself in the same machine that fixed Donna's genetic structure. He's going to use it to fix himself and return to being that fun loving homicidal lunatic that you and I love so well. He's probably doing that even now as we speak," the Dream Lord admitted.

"You've all got to wake up then and stop him," River said.

"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere. I'm not finished with you yet," the Dream Lady said as she suddenly reappeared.

"Oh, yes you are," Amy said as she took River's gun from her.

She fired it at the Dream Lady dissolving her yet again as she said, "I'll handle her. The rest of you need to wake up."

"You're amazing, Amy Pond," the Dream Lord said with admiration.

"Hey!" Rory protested.

"Oh, shut up, Big Nose. She already chose you over everyone else about a million times. Get over the inferiority complex already," the Dream Lord said rolling his eyes.

"Go, quickly. I'll stay here with them," River told the Doctor.

The Doctor hesitated a moment and then nodded. He embraced River one last time and whispered something in her ear that made her smile. Then he and the others started disappearing as they all began to wake up,

"What did he say?" Amy asked as she shot the Dream Lady and dissolved her yet again as soon as she came back.

"Oh, just three simple words. Three very important words that I was sure that I'd never hear from him ever again. I'm so glad that I was wrong," River said.

"Well, there goes my cue to leave. He's waking up now. I have a feeling that he's going to get quite a surprise when he does," the Dream Lord said laughing as he vanished.

The world around them started to dissolve, and they could sense Clara waking up too. River quickly dream jumped them out of her mind and back into their own before they could become trapped in Clara's brain.

Back in the real world, the Doctor woke up to find himself chained to a table in the medical bay along with Clara and everyone else but Rayna. Rayna was tied up and lying in the corner.

The Master's laughter told the Doctor everything that he needed to know as his old enemy walked into the room. The Master had captured all of them and now had full control of the TARDIS.

"Hello, Doctor. As you can see, I've been quite busy while you've been having your little nap. The TARDIS belongs to me now, and none of you can do anything about it. I can do anything and go anywhere now. Would you like to know where I'm going to go first?" the Master asked.

"Not really, but I'm sure you're going to dazzle us with how clever that you are and tell us anyway. You just can't resist it, can you?" the Doctor said.

"There's the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard it," Donna said in a grumpy mood.

"Thanks a lot, Donna. I can always count on you," the Doctor said sighing.

"Oi! I was having a very nice dream before I woke up so excuse me if I'm just a little bit put out at the moment," Donna said.

"It was good for me too," Jack said smiling at her.

Donna smiled and said, "Really?"

"Oh, yes. Maybe we could get together later and make the dream a reality," Jack said smiling.

"Will you two stop flirting for five seconds?!" the Doctor said annoyed.

"For once we agree with each other, Doctor. If they keep doing that I won't be able to tell you about the surprise that's coming up soon. I wanted to be the one to tell you about it first before my new business partners do just to see the look on your face," the Master said laughing.

"Business partners?" the Doctor asked not liking the sound of this already.

He was still mentally kicking himself for not figuring out that the Master was behind this earlier. His mind really was slowing down in his old age.

"Some old enemies of yours that have agreed to give me what I want in exchange for you. Can you guess who they are?" the Master asked taunting him.

Suddenly several Slitheens walked into the medical bay and one of them said, "So you didn't lie. It is the Doctor."

"Yes, just as I said. I'll gladly give him and almost anyone else that you want in here in exchange for the item that we agreed on," the Master said.

"We only want the Doctor. You can keep the others. We will make an enormous profit in selling him off to the highest bidder. I'm sure that all of his enemies will pay top dollar to be the ones to finally claim the right to kill him," one of the Slitheen said.

"I don't care what you do to him as long as he dies. You can be certain that I'll be there to make sure that whoever gets him carries out the job though. Besides the spectacle of the Doctor in chains as others bid for the right to end his life is simply too impossible for me to resist!" the Master said laughing.

**Next: The Slitheen haul the Doctor off to Raxacoricofallapatorius and host the biggest auction in the universe there as several old enemies of the Doctor come to bid on him. They may find that the auction will bring them more trouble than they could have ever bargained for though. What is it that the Master wants from the Slitheen and what does he intend to do with it? Also we'll see Amy, Rory, and River engaged in a little adventure of their own in their dreams as they confront something far worse than the Dream Lord or Lady there. Something that won't let them wake up.**


	15. The Auction of Doom

CHAPTER 15

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE AUCTION OF DOOM

The Master sat in the audience eagerly waiting for the bidders to show up two hours before the auction for the Doctor was even supposed to begin. He looked around him smiling in amusement at the bidders who had already appeared.

There were representatives of pretty much every race in the universe here willing and eager to take possession of the Doctor for their own nefarious reasons. There were the Doctor's precious humans, Silurians, Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Draconians, Sea Devils, Terileptils, Mentors, Zygons, Krillitane, Autons, and several other races that even the Master had never seen before. The Doctor certainly got around. Apparently he had managed to anger every sentient species in the universe.

The Master noticed though that there were two races who were missing from this auction, and he couldn't help but wonder if their very noticeable absence might cause problems for the Slitheen before the day was over with. Not that he really cared what happened here today as long as he came out of it alive and the Doctor wound up dead preferably after a great deal of pain and suffering first.

"Well, someone's feeling very proud of themselves, aren't they?" Rayna said.

She sat next to him. Well, to be more accurate, she was sitting there tied up in the seat next to him. He had wanted her to see this too and had hoped that a little time spent with him would make her come around to see how her new world view was a misguided one at best. He wanted her to go back to being the Rani and stop all of this Rayna foolishness.

He really just missed her and wanted her back even if he couldn't admit that to himself at the moment.

"Of course I am, my dear. I just put my greatest enemy into an impossible situation where only certain death awaits him, stole his TARDIS, and kidnapped all of the people that he loves. Why wouldn't I be proud?" the Master said smugly.

"For all of the reasons that you just mentioned and for the fact that you've just tied up the woman who loves you and forced her to sit next to you while you did all of those things," Rayna said with a sigh.

"You still love me?" the Master asked with barely disguised relief.

"Of course I do. I don't know why at the moment but I do. You're really pushing it though, Koschei," Rayna warned.

"I had to tie you up or you'd rescue the Doctor. I won't have that. Besides I didn't want to just leave you alone like that. What if you needed something?" the Master admitted in a rare moment of compassion.

Rayna smiled at him as she said, "Well, maybe there's some hope for you after all."

"Don't make too much out of that, Rani," the Master said.

"The name is Rayna or Ushas. The Rani is dead," Rayna said.

"I don't think so. I think she's only sleeping waiting for the right moment to return," the Master said hopefully.

"No. She's not. I can't become that person again, Koschei. I won't," Rayna said firmly.

The Master looked at her sadly and said nothing more. He feared that he had already lost her because he wasn't sure if he could go down the road that she was now traveling. He fervently wished that she would go back to being who she had been before so that they could be together. Then again she was much happier in this new life, and he did want her to be happy even if that happiness cost him his own.

"We could still be together despite our current circumstances. I know we'll find a way somehow," Rayna said knowing what he was thinking.

He smiled at her but said nothing else. He did however take her hand and mutter an apology for having to keep her tied up. She smiled at him and thought that at least they were making some progress. She couldn't help but think what an odd pair that they made, but she couldn't think of anyone else that she'd rather be with than him. She wouldn't rest until she saved him from himself just as she had been saved.

"Excuse me but is this where the Doctor is going to be auctioned off?" a voice that was very familiar to the Master asked.

"Yes, it is, and we'll even accept your money here despite your past indiscretions concerning our kind. We don't care who gives us the money as long as we get it. You do have the minimum amount required to make a bid, don't you?" one of the Slitheen asked.

"Oh, yes. I've been looking forward to this for a long time now," the woman said with a wide smile.

"Who is that? You seem to know her," Rayna asked.

"Jealous? You don't need to worry. She's an old acquaintance of the Doctor's. Why she's here though I have no idea. Perhaps they had a falling out. He does seem to have that effect on people," the Master said chuckling.

Some servants carried in a slug-like being carried aloft on their shoulders in a carry-all who said, "I wish to bid on the Doctor as well. As the last of the Time Lords, I could auction his DNA off to the highest bidder."

The Master smiled at that. He had been very careful to make sure that no one knew that he, Ushas, and certain of the Doctor's companions were all Time Lords as well. The Slitheen had been more than willing to go along with this since being the last of something meant that the Doctor would be worth more to them.

"You will get your chance, Sil. I doubt that you can match some of our higher bidders however," the same Slitheen as before said.

"Who could dare match me? Who has more money than the Mentors?" Sil asked indignantly.

"Me," a woman in a magnificent almost regal dress who was flanked by an entourage of several Silents said.

"You? What does the church care about the fate of one insignificant Time Lord and where would you get such a sum?" Sil asked.

"My church receives many donations from many influential people and as for why I'm here. I'm here on a holy mission. One involving silence," Tasha Lem said.

"I'd like to know what's so holy about bidding on the Doctor," Sil said.

"That's church business not your own. Now go away before I arrange for you to disappear and have everyone conveniently forget where you went," Tasha threatened with a sinister smile as she looked at the Silents with her.

Sil glared at her but quickly motioned for his guards to take him away from her as quickly as possible. Tasha laughed as she walked up to the front row to take a seat there.

"This is glorious. Even I didn't expect so many different factions to be squabbling over the Doctor. It's even more entertaining than I imagined," the Master said with joy.

"Whatever," Rayna said sighing.

Before too much longer the Doctor was dragged out onto the stage in chains just as the Master had predicted and displayed for the entire audience to see. Surprisingly, the Doctor didn't seem to be bothered by this in the slightest.

"This is what you've all been waiting so patiently for, ladies and gentlemen. I present to you the item on which you have all come here to bid. He is The Oncoming Storm, The Predator of the Daleks, The Destroyer of Worlds, and The Last of the Time Lords. I give you the Doctor," the Auctioneer, a Slitheen dressed in a fancy suit and wearing a top hat, said.

"Hello, everyone! I'd wave but I'm a little tied up at the moment," the Doctor said smiling as if this sort of thing happened to him every day.

Several members of the audience laughed while the Master rolled his eyes.

"Idiot," the Master said.

"As you can see, he is in excellent physical condition not that that matters to many of you. As the last of his kind, he is one of the most valuable creatures in the universe and being a Time Lord only increases that value. You could study his DNA to learn the secrets of regeneration for yourselves. Perhaps you could even gain the secrets of time travel from him if he were given enough persuasion. Some of you may care nothing about any of that though. You may wish to simply gain revenge for some past misdeed that he has committed against you or perhaps you may wish to use his vast knowledge and skills to aid your cause or home world. Some of you may even fancy buying him out of romantic interests although I have no idea why personally," the Auctioneer said.

Several women in the audience including Tasha Lem smiled at that as they eyed him up and down appreciatively, and the Doctor couldn't help but gulp in fear for a moment.

"Your motives and reasons for being here are many, and varied and we personally don't care about any of them. All that matters to us is that you bid. Think about whatever brought you here and use that as your motivation to win your prize here today. Bid hard and bid high! Let the bidding begin, and may the best being win!" the Auctioneer said.

The auction was soon underway, and various factions bid and counterbid against one another for the Doctor as the Doctor shouted over the noise, "Ushas, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Doctor. I think you should be more worried about yourself right now," Rayna said.

"Don't worry about me, Ushas. I have a plan. I'm more concerned with you and the others. Are they alright?" the Doctor shouted.

"They were the last that I saw them. Amy and Rory never woke up though which concerns me," Rayna said.

The Doctor glared at the Master who said, "I have nothing to do with it. Perhaps the Dream Lady was more powerful than any of us thought. I could care less what happens to those two personally. All that matters to me is the prize that I have gained in exchange for you and the Rani. I may just leave your companions back on Earth once I leave here and let them be someone else's problem although I might keep the metal dog. He could come in handy as a source of amusement. Perhaps I could keep him to put in a trophy case somewhere."

"All talking will cease while the bidding is going on," the Auctioneer said.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of interfering now that the Doctor is finally getting what's coming to him," the Master said laughing.

His laughter died in his throat though as the entire auction house was suddenly attacked by the Daleks!

Several Daleks suddenly teleported inside and began firing on everyone in sight as they shouted, "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

A Black Dalek appeared right behind them and ordered, "KILL EVERYONE BUT THE DOCTOR. HE WILL BE OUR PRISONER."

As the audience started to flee in a mass panic, the Cybermen appeared at the doors and blocked their exit. Now the audience screamed in terror as they were truly caught between a rock and a hard place with Daleks on one side and Cybermen on the other.

"Delete them all except for the Doctor. He is to be ours," the Cyber Leader commanded.

The Doctor smiled as he said, "There they are right on schedule. The plan."

"That's your plan?!" Rayna asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I knew they'd come eventually. Can you think of a better way to get out of here?" the Doctor asked.

"I suppose not. You know you're really quite brilliant on occasion," Rayna said smiling.

"Be careful, Rani, or he'll make you just as bad as he is," the Master said with concern.

"I think he already has. I actually think that this is a good idea now," Rayna said laughing.

"I have to get out of here before anyone gets killed. It's a miracle that they haven't yet. Koschei, get me out of these chains or do you want the Daleks or Cybermen to get ahold of me. They've both already said that they won't kill me, and that's what you want, isn't it?" the Doctor said.

The Master waged an internal war for a moment and then he quickly untied Rayna and used his laser screwdriver to free the Doctor.

"Fine but only because I want you to die slowly and painfully," the Master said grumbling.

The three Time Lords ran to the stage as they tried to slip past the Daleks. They were followed by the woman that Rayna had wondered about before. The Doctor turned around and smiled as soon as he saw her.

"Sarah Jane Smith! What are you doing here? How are you here anyway? Whatever the reason is, I really wish that you weren't. I'm not sure how any of us are going to get out of here alive," the Doctor said as he led the four of them to an exit at the back of the stage that hadn't yet been blocked by anyone.

"I came here to rescue you for once. I've waited a long time to do that. I came here with the help of a Vortex Manipulator to buy your freedom after I learned about this auction from a Slitheen who said that he owed you one. It seems that it didn't quite work out the way that I had planned it though," Sarah Jane said.

"Wait. You have a Vortex Manipulator?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I borrowed it from UNIT's Black Archive. Don't worry. They'll never miss it. I'll get it back long before they do," Sarah Jane said.

"You're as amazing as ever, Sarah Jane," the Doctor said smiling at her appreciatively.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Doctor? Let her use it to get you out of here. Hurry. I'll have the Silents hold everyone back while you go," Tasha said.

"Thanks. I'll pay you back for this somehow," the Doctor said.

"You bet you will," Tasha said seductively.

"Uh, I have a girlfriend these days, Tasha," the Doctor said hesitantly.

"I could make you forget her, Doctor. Literally," Tasha said with a grin.

The Doctor glared at her as she smiled and said, "We'll talk about it later. Go!"

Sarah Jane activated the Vortex Manipulator and the four of them soon found themselves safely outside and far away from the chaos ensuing nearby. They ran for the TARDIS before anyone could find them but before they could get to it they quickly found out that it was surrounded by Sil and his servants who held several very menacing guns on them.

"Going somewhere, Doctor? I came here to get my revenge on you for what happened on Thoros Beta, and now that time has finally come. I will take you and sell you myself on the open market for the secrets that your biology hides and then become rich off of the profits. Well, richer anyway," Sil said with a greedy smile on his face.

"Oh, what wonderful situations that you get me into, Doctor," Rayna said.

"See why you need to travel with me instead?" the Master said.

"Why? You'd be missing out on all of this fun if you went with Captain Gloomy over there," the Doctor said.

Rayna shook her head at both Time Lords even as Sarah Jane laughed. Some things never changed around the Doctor.

"I'll show you why you should go with me, Rani, by getting you out of this situation," the Master said as he secretly hit a button on a remote control that he had managed to keep hidden inside of one of his gloves.

Rayna was shocked as the Master's TARDIS quickly materialized around her and the Master in the blink of an eye. They were now safe while the Doctor and Sarah Jane were still left outside with Sil and his men.

"Quick! Let them in!" Rayna shouted.

"I'm sorry, Ushas," the Master said as he stunned her with his Laser Screwdriver.

He caught her as she fell and then gently laid her body on the floor of his TARDIS just before he quickly dematerialized. He hoped that she would learn to forgive him someday for what he was doing. He couldn't let anything happen to her though. He had to get her out of there as quickly as possible.

He smiled as he watched the central column of the console go up and down. The Doctor's TARDIS was too temperamental and too loyal to him. He was sure that she would have found a way to fight back against him and free the Doctor if he had stayed there much longer. Now he had finally found his own TARDIS again with the help of the Slitheen. He knew that they would find it if given enough motivation to do so by the money that they would receive from the Doctor.

He was sure that the Doctor would find some way to survive Sil and that they would meet again someday. When they did, he would make sure that their next meeting would be their last.

In the meantime though, he was going to do his best to convince Ushas to give up her new do gooder's crusade and join him. He had to win her back and make her see that she belonged with him not the Doctor and his group.

"So, Doctor, any ideas?" Sarah Jane asked with her hands in the air.

"Don't worry. I have another plan," the Doctor said.

"Oh, good. Who are we going to get attacked by this time?" Sarah Jane asked with a smile.

"Have a little faith, Sarah Jane. It's a cool plan. Trust me," the Doctor said.

"Your friends may have escaped but you won't. Move, Doctor! Now. We're going back to my ship," Sil ordered.

As Sil's men started to lead the Doctor and Sarah Jane away from the safety of the TARDIS, on the inside of the time ship Amy and Rory still slept soundly despite the best attempts of the others to wake them. They were all still strapped to their beds in the medical bay, but they had been shouting enough to wake the dead. Neither Pond even so much as twitched though.

"What is wrong with them?" Clara asked worried.

"Well, I could examine them and find out if we were able to get free. We're already in the right place for it. The medical bay is filled with advanced equipment that could diagnose and treat their condition within minutes," Romana said.

"A fat lot of good it does us strapped down like this," Donna said.

Suddenly they were all taken by surprise as yet another Captain Jack Harkness appeared in the middle of the medical bay wearing a Vortex Manipulator. He quickly freed everyone including his past self. He let someone else free the past Jack though of course to keep from blowing everyone up.

"Okay, here's the plan. Romana, you check and see what's wrong with Amy and Rory. Jenny and Leela, you're our best fighters right now so you two go find the Doctor and Rayna and rescue them. You, Jack, are going to explain to me how there are now two of you," Clara said automatically taking charge while Amy was unconscious.

"Okay, who made her the boss?" Donna said.

"She did herself apparently," Susan said as she looked at her mother with admiration.

The future Jack winked at Susan and earned an angry scowl from Clara even as he said, "Okay, here's the story. I'm him, the other Jack, in the near future. I went with Leela and Jenny to find the Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith's with him, and I got this Vortex Manipulator from her. Then I came straight here."

"I guess I should be hurrying after them then. Before I go though, I just have to say that you look very handsome. I mean you're looking good," Jack said to his future self.

"Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself," Future Jack said.

"Stop. Just stop," Clara said.

"I'd kiss myself but we'd blow up the universe," Jack said.

"It might be worth it," future Jack said.

"Go!" Clara ordered as she tried not to bust out laughing.

Jack left and future/now current Jack stayed as he said upon looking at the Vortex Manipulator, "Hey, this is mine. I wondered where that got to. So UNIT had it all along."

"I can't find anything wrong with either of them. Of course it's harder to tell with Rory since he's an Auton. They both seem fine though. I have no idea why they're not waking up. They should be awake right now," Romana said mystified.

"It must be the Dream Lady. It looks like we're going to have to go in there ourselves and rescue them," Clara said.

"You're not going anywhere. Only an Academy trained Time Lord should be going into another person's mind that way. At the moment, Oswin and I are the only fully trained Time Lords here. We'll do it ourselves," Romana said.

"Well, fine. I guess the rest of us would only get in your way then since we're so stupid and unskilled and all. Never mind that they're my friends too," Clara said insulted.

"I didn't mean to say it in a condescending way, Clara. If I made it sound that way, then I'm sorry. It's the reality of the situation though. An untrained Time Lord may do more harm than good inside someone else's mind," Romana apologized.

"She's right, Clara. I know it's hard for you to stand by and do nothing, but this time you have to. Don't worry. I'm going too so it'll be just like you're there," Oswin said smiling at her.

"Alright. Be careful then. I can't lose my new sister already. I only just met you," Clara said hugging her.

"We'll be fine," Oswin said reassuring her.

Then Romana placed her hands on the sides of Amy's head while Oswin did the same to Rory's. They both entered their dreams as they prepared to find out exactly what was keeping them there.

In the real world, Sil's men were ambushed from behind by Jenny, Leela, and Jack as the Doctor said, "There we go. It took them a while but they came through."

"That was your plan?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No. They were my back-up plan. I wasn't sure that they would get free in time to help us though. My main plan was to sabotage Sil's ship once we got inside. I was sure that I would have gotten access to a computer port at some point," the Doctor said

"I'm glad this plan worked then. Your 'sabotage' usually just makes things even worse," Sarah Jane said.

"Name one time that ever happened," the Doctor protested.

"The time that you sabotaged an Auton factory and instead of shutting it down you made it start producing them faster. Or how about the time that you tried to keep the Silurians from escaping their underground base and almost trapped us inside of it too because the doors shut too early? That was the day the doors slammed shut on us just as we got through them. They ripped your scarf in half, and you had to reknit it, remember? You whined about that for days until I wanted to strangle you with what was left of it. Should I go on?" Sarah Jane said with a grin.

"I said name one," the Doctor said smiling back at her despite himself.

Jenny seemed to be everywhere at once as she somersaulted and flipped around Sil's minions so quickly that she made them look like they were standing still. They continued to miss her entirely with every shot fired or fist thrown at her while she systematically picked each and every one of them off around her. Leela meanwhile was certainly no slouch either as she laid several huge alien goons out cold with a single well-placed blow or kick. She was especially proud of herself because she wasn't using either her knife or her Janis thorns just as she had promised the Doctor, and she was still winning.

Jack stood next to the now abandoned Sil, whose carry-all had been dropped by his servants at the first sign of trouble, as they both watched the two women demolish all of Sil's henchmen in awe.

"They're amazing, aren't they?" Jack said.

"Yes, they are. I would very much like to have them for my personal . . . house staff," Sil said as he practically drooled over them.

"Don't even think about it, Sil. The blonde is the Doctor's daughter not to mention a trained soldier, and the other one is a warrior and has poison thorns that can kill you in seconds. If you tried anything with either one of them, you'd be dead as soon as you started. Trust me on that. I once made the mistake of hitting on Leela," Jack said shivering for a second.

Then he saw Sarah Jane and remembered what he had come here for. Watching Jenny and Leela had distracted him from his mission for a moment.

"Hey, Sarah Jane. It's nice to see you again. I have to take that Vortex Manipulator from you or it's going to create a paradox," Jack said as he explained what had just happened.

"Sure, go ahead. Why am I not even surprised by that kind of thing anymore?" Sarah Jane said with a grin.

"Oh, that's a brilliant idea. I wish I had thought of it," the Doctor said.

"See you in a few minutes, Doctor," Jack said as he used the Vortex Manipulator to go back and free himself and the others.

"Come on, Doctor. Let's go before the Slitheen catch up to you," Sarah Jane said as soon as the rest of Sil's men had been incapacitated.

The four of them raced back to the TARDIS as Sil said, "Wait! Couldn't I convince one of you to stay on with me as my loyal retainer? Maybe you, blonde girl? Please? They're magnificent. Why does he always get all of the women? What does he have that I don't?"

"Do you really me to answer that?" Tasha said as she suddenly appeared behind him and knocked him out cold.

"Was that really necessary?" a Silent asked her.

"No, but I certainly enjoyed it. Erase their memories of what just happened. I don't want the Slitheen to find the Doctor by talking to them," Tasha said.

The Doctor and the others soon returned to the TARDIS to find Romana and Oswin still inside of the Ponds' brains. They had been there for several minutes and showed no signs of leaving them.

"Doctor, what do you think is going on?" Clara asked.

"I have no idea. They should have been released when we were. It looks like I might have to go in there after them," the Doctor said.

"No, don't. You might not come back out either," Clara said.

"That's a chance that I may have to take if neither of them comes out soon," the Doctor said.

Meanwhile in the dreams of Amy and Rory, both Romana and Oswin were wandering around aimlessly without being able to find a trace of either of them there. Now they knew that something was wrong.

_Should we just go back and tell them that no one's home._ Oswin said telepathically to Romana.

_No, not yet. Just keep searching. They have to be here somewhere. I just wish that I knew what happened to them? Why didn't they wake up with the others? _Romana responded perplexed.

Buried deep inside of their shared mindscape, Amy, Rory, and River were trapped inside of a rapidly shrinking room where the walls were literally closing in on them. The room had popped up as soon as River had dream jumped them back into their own dreams and hadn't let them out no matter what they had tried.

"What is this, River? Have you ever heard of anything like it?" Amy asked as the walls continued to get closer and closer.

"No, I'm afraid not. Whatever it is, I'm sure that it has to be one of the Doctor's old enemies behind it. This reeks of something to do with him," River said.

"Are you sure it's not the Dream Lady? Maybe she didn't disappear when the Dream Lord did," Amy said.

"It might be but since she hasn't shown up to gloat yet I doubt it. I suppose we could try asking who's doing this to us," River said.

"Is it really that simple? We just ask them and they'll tell us?" Rory asked.

"You'd be surprised how simple these things are sometimes. Go ahead. Ask for whoever's behind this to reveal themselves," River said with a grin.

"Uh, whoever's doing this to us show yourself now. We want to see you," Rory said.

"Not like that. You have to be firm with them. Let them know who's the boss," Amy said.

She looked up toward the ceiling and shouted, "Alright, whoever you are, you come out right now and tell us what this is all about! If you don't, I swear I'll break down these walls with my bare hands and use one of them to beat you senseless!"

"That should do it alright," Rory said wincing.

"I'm so proud of you," River said laughing.

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Amy asked winking at her.

Then the walls stopped moving, and a large snake-like creature appeared in the room in front of them. It looked at them with cold, hungry eyes as it said, "I am the Mara, and I will give you the answers that you seek. I have done this to you because I have need of your bodies. I want to use one of them to return to the outside world in and escape this place. One of you will agree to give yourself to me or I will destroy all of you."

"Let me guess. You're an old enemy of the Doctor's, aren't you?" River asked smugly.

"Doctor! You travel with the Doctor?!" the Mara hissed in anger.

"I'll take that as a yes," River said.

"Let me through to the outside world so that I may crush him. I will have my vengeance on him! I will finally destroy that interfering Time Lord at last," the Mara shrieked.

"Doctor, I am so going to kill you when I get out of this," Amy promised.

**Next: It's the Doctor and his crew versus the menace of the Mara as it tries to manifest itself in the real world once more. Will it succeed? Meanwhile after she wakes up with him in his TARDIS and has a confrontation with him, Rayna makes a final decision about her relationship with the Master. What will it be? **


End file.
